Help Mike with Epilepsy and Memory Loss

Hello to everyone!

This is my youngest brother, Michael, who has had epilepsy his whole life. For years, this meant he stared into space much of the time and didn't answer us when we talked to him. Not knowing any better, we just assumed that was his personality. That changed in 1984 when he started having Grand Mal seizures (the big ones).

For the next 24 years, Mike was prescribed various seizure drugs with limited success. During this time, his driver's license was revoked, and he was forced to quit his job as a carpenter and go to work in a grocery store.

My mother kept a close eye on him until 2005 when she passed away. In 2006, Mike decided to enter into an experimental program at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. He had brain surgery to implant a device called a deep brain stimulator to monitor and dial down the severity of his seizures whenever they started.

He has had a total of 3 brain surgeries since and will need another in 3 years to replace the battery.

Mike is currently in an assisted living facility in Palm Bay, Florida. In addition to epilepsy, he can't remember anything new for longer than 15 minutes (short-term memory loss) and may have early onset dementia. The meds he still has to take for seizures alter his behavior, and sometimes he gets extremely irritated and impatient (might have something to do with not knowing where he is or how he got there). He knows me, but no one else he sees daily. He has no wife or children, so the only one looking out for him now is me. Between emergency rooms, ambulances, specialists, and the rent at his assisted living facility, he will blow through his life savings by year-end. So before I sign him up for Medicaid, I thought I would ask everyone I know to consider any small donation so Mike can stay where he is. Mike has always been a first-rate person, reliable, honest, and always ready to help. Unfortunately, he can't be that now. Lastly, I have a small personal gift to email to anyone who helps Mike.

Thank you very much,

Vince