Help Michael with Post-Transplant Medical Bills

Hi, I'm Charlene, and I am helping my brother, Michael, cover his extensive medical expenses resulting from an illness that nearly killed him and the transplant that saved his life.

After years of crippling symptoms without a diagnosis, my brother Michael found himself at death’s door. Last January, he received a liver transplant that saved his life. However, he continues to suffer from excruciating neuropathy and fatigue and cannot work. Your donations will help Michael start the next chapter of his life by assisting with medical expenses and a move to Huntsville to be with his kids. Here is his story.

In December 2020, my brother Michael, then age 51, became overcome with persistent exhaustion. It took everything he had to walk his dog, Buddy, a couple of times a day. Then he became perpetually nauseous. Whenever he ate, he would vomit. He had trouble staying upright. Even a short trip from the bedroom to the bathroom often resulted in a fall. He cut his ear open, became covered in bruises, and broke ribs.

Multiple trips to urgent care yielded no clues as to what was happening. Michael went to the emergency room and was admitted for several days while the hospital conducted a battery of tests, imaging, heart monitoring, and extensive blood work. Four days later, they released him without a diagnosis. He then took the discharge paperwork to his primary care physician. More tests followed, including an endoscopy, but no diagnosis was achieved. Meanwhile, he continued to vomit multiple times daily, was rapidly losing weight, and continued falling. Somehow, he managed to keep working and caring for Buddy and his three cats.

In June 2021, he moved from Maryland to Virginia to start a new job. In November, he saw a new primary care doctor who ran routine blood tests that showed elevated liver counts. Additional follow-up tests were scheduled, but he was too sick to get to the appointment. On December 10, Michael was on his way to visit our sister, Kayleigh, a drive he had made countless times before. This time, however, he found himself 60 miles past her exit. Confused, he pulled into a rest area. When he got out of the car, he immediately fell and hit his head on the concrete. Some onlookers called 911, and the police arrived. Our dad and brother-in-law went to the rest area and brought him to my parents’ house.

Michael’s condition continued to deteriorate. He had trouble standing, and when he did, he continued to fall. My parents had difficulty helping him up and were understandably distressed at the state of his health. They called 911 and had him taken to the hospital.

Finally, he started to get some answers. The sodium level in his blood was dangerously low, a condition called hyponatremia, which results in nausea, vomiting, headaches, and muscle weakness and can cause seizures, coma, or even death. His kidneys and liver were failing. The hospital told our parents he needed a liver transplant within 60 days to survive. They were shocked he was still alive. He had multiple broken ribs and a brain bleed from falling.

Michael was transferred to Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital for further treatment, including regular dialysis, and to be evaluated for candidacy for a liver transplant. Finally, luck was on his side and on January 26, 2022, he received a liver transplant. Recovery took several months, during which he continued to receive dialysis, was monitored to ensure the new organ was not rejected and had to learn to walk again.

But there’s no going back to his old life of full-time work and robust physical health. He must take anti-rejection drugs for the rest of his life. He will always be immunocompromised, and he has crippling chronic pain and neuropathy in both feet, making it painful to wear just socks – to say nothing of shoes and any upright physical activity. He is still very fatigued, sometimes sleeping until late afternoon despite setting multiple alarms. He is unable to work, buried in medical debt, and misses his kids, Adrian and Sydney, in Huntsville, Alabama.

Any help you can give is appreciated. The money will go toward medical debt and moving from Virginia to Alabama. He has applied for Social Security Disability and is considering filing for bankruptcy. Mostly, he wants to be with his kids. Thank you.