Help Greg Kristi & Jax move back into their home!

Help Greg, Kristi and Jaxon move back into their home!

Hello all! My name is Nancie Cress. I’m new to this go fund me thing so I’ll just tell you my son’s story with heartfelt hope that you will find it in your hearts to help this young family move back into their home that was devastated by the mighty Mississippi.

In 2015 my son Greg Cress was diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder called Neuro Myelitis Optica that causes damaging lesions on the spinal and optic nerves. He and Kristi (his wife) had just been blessed with the birth of their only child, a son-Jaxon, in 2015 when Greg began to have trouble with his vision and his ability to walk. Within one month he was paralyzed from the chest down and gradually losing the vision in his right eye. After a lengthy hospitalization, the first of many, he rallied and regained some of his mobility but continued to lose vision and is now completely blind in one eye and legally blind in the other. Throughout the last few years he has relapsed multiple times and was hospitalized and treated. With each relapse more permanent damage is done and he loses more abilities.

Now, mind you, 2019 has been especially rough for Greg, Kristi and Jaxon. Despite his determination to support his family and provide them a home Greg has suffered setback after setback this year.  First, he relapsed (lost all vision) right before Easter and had to return to St. Louis (where his doctors are) to be treated - only to find out that his insurance was no longer accepted by the neurologist who had been treating him all this time. What? No treatment? He normally gets a blood transfusion –plasmapheresis- where they take his blood out through a port that was surgically implanted in his chest, remove the plasma, and return “fake”  plasma to his blood in hopes that the virus (or whatever) that is causing his immune system to attack itself will be washed out. Needless to say, this doesn’t seem to be working. So, after  multiple emergency room visits, medications, and new doctors, he is now wobbling around with a cane (he falls down a lot) and looking through one blurry eye.




Now, the good stuff…. In March, the water in the Mississippi River began to rise. Greg, Kristi and Jaxon live approximately three miles from the river on a Piasa creek. No big deal. However, the water continued to rise to record breaking levels.

With the help of many wonderful people, both family and friends, Kristi, Jaxon and Greg began to move out all their possessions, clothing, and household furnishings as the water kept rising.



 What couldn’t be taken by boat one mile up the road to waiting vehicles, was put into a makeshift shed (built with help) on higher ground behind the house.


It was virtually a frantic race against the rising Mississippi with the constant hope that the water wouldn’t actually get into the house. It did. On Greg’s birthday, June 10th.


The water stayed in their house just long enough to wreak havoc. Water was up into the floors of the main level, so every room had flood water saturated carpet and flooring. In the kitchen (a few feet lower than the main level) walls disintegrated and cabinets were ruined. Because no one could drive in for weeks (water on the road too deep), mold developed everywhere quickly and thickly despite attempts to avert it.  There is structural damage to the floor joists and basement walls. And to top it off, raccoons got into the kitchen somehow and had a party with the remaining baking goods that were in the upper cabinets!

So the clean-up finally begins with help from family and friends.

Imagine, if you will, the struggles that this young family has already dealt with!  Kristi has been by Greg’s side through it all, taking it in stride, driving him to doctors and offering support while practically raising a rambunctious four year old on her own while Greg attempts to continue working. She’s a Godsend! Four year old Jaxon has only known life with an often hospitalized daddy and so he probably thinks all daddy’s have IV’s on a regular basis.

New setback – In September, just as things were progressing, Greg developed a serious infection in the surgically implanted port in his chest that leads straight to his heart - causing another relapse. Thirty-two days in the hospital with his house still sitting in ruin, Kristi and Jaxon staying on her mom’s couch for months, all their stuff in bags and boxes and storage, and no money being made. Greg needs to have physical therapy in his home to learn to walk again and IV infusions by visiting nurses.

Despite their positive attitudes Greg and Kristi have reached the end of their finances and still need flooring, cabinets, structural repair, a furnace and all the final finishing touches to bring this family back together in the home Jaxon has grown up in.

They’d never ask for a hand out or hand up so I’m asking for them. They’ve literally reached the bottom of the bucket and it hurts me to watch them suffer.
Since I’m retired on a fixed income I can’t help them financially so I’ve created this page in the hope that your generosity can help them overcome the challenges ahead. Any amount, even just $5, would be a blessing. These funds will be used to fix their house into  a stable and safe place to live and to help offset all the debt accumulated because of Greg's illness. Please help them go home!

We have the best family and friends and thank you all for the help saving as much as we did.

“After 127 days of consecutive flooding, the Mississippi River at St. Louis fell below flood stage Saturday morning July 20th. The Mississippi has been flooded since March 16, according to the St. Louis Branch of the National Weather Service, shattering the Great Flood of 1993’s record of 104 days…..This year’s flooding was historical due to the longevity of the flooding and also the heights reached by the Mississippi, Illinois and Kaskaskia rivers.”
Read more here: https://www.bnd.com/news/local/article232967327.html#storylink=cpy

 “People in Illinois won't get any help from FEMA to recover from this year's record
breaking floods. Unless the federal agency changes its mind after an appeal from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency. Deputy Director Scott Swinford says last month, FEMA denied Illinois' application for Individual Assistance to help 1.4 million residents recover from Illinois and Mississippi river flooding.” November 8, 2019

(O'Neill, 2019) https://www.wvik.org/post/il-appeals-fema-denial-household-flood-recovery-helpfunds#stream/0