Marine veteran. 5 months post-stroke. On a ventilator. $914 per day in uninsured care costs. His family needs your help.

Help My Brother Arnold Silverman Fight His Way Back - 5 Months and Still Fighting

Five months ago today, my brother Arnold Silverman suffered a massive stroke at work. He recognized the symptoms, called for help immediately, and that quick thinking likely saved his life. What followed has been the longest, hardest five months our family has ever faced - and we are still in the middle of it.

We are not asking because we want to. We are asking because we have no choice left.

Arnold's Story:

Arnold has been through the ICU and five different care facilities. He is currently at FutureCare Homewood in Baltimore, where he remains on a ventilator with a tracheostomy. He cannot walk. He cannot speak. He is fed through a feeding tube and has significant weakness on his right side, leaving him unable to do anything on his own.

And yet - he is still in there. Fully alert, cognitively sharp, and engaged. He communicates by writing with his left hand. He participates in therapy sessions throughout the week. He has taken very small sips of water via ice chips. He lights up when family visits. He is progressing. Slowly, but he is progressing.

The Financial Reality No One Prepared Us For:

Arnold was covered under his wife Dana's employer-sponsored health plan through Cigna. That plan covered only 60 days of inpatient rehabilitation. 60 days. For a stroke patient on a ventilator, that is nothing. When those 60 days ran out, the financial clock started - and it has not stopped since.

What we also didn't know until recently is the true daily cost of his care. We were told the facility costs $412 per day. What no one mentioned was a separate $502 per day charge for the ventilator unit on top of that.

The real number is $914 per day.

That is $27,801 every single month. If Arnold remains at this level of care through next year, that is over $333,000 annually. Every dollar of it is out of pocket, not covered by any insurance or program yet. Even $40 covers about one hour of his care.

Dana has been paying this throughout the entire month of May. Alone. On a single income, while raising their 10-year-old daughter Gracie by herself - managing Gracie's school, sports, friends, and everything in between - and making the long drive to visit Arnold nearly every single day, because that is the kind of wife and mother she is. Dana is exhausted in every sense of the word. The financial pressure is crushing. The emotional weight is immense. And there is no end in sight yet.

On top of everything, the family is navigating the Medicaid application process with an elder care attorney, because this system is not something anyone can manage alone. Those legal fees add yet another layer to an already impossible situation.

This Is Already a Family Effort

My wife Megan and I, and our father Harold, have been helping and will absolutely continue to do everything we can for Arnold and his family. We are not stepping back. But between Dana's monthly costs and everything our family is contributing, we have all simply reached the point where it is not sustainable for us to carry this alone. This page is not something any of us wanted to create. It is something we had to.

What We're Asking

Arnold knows this page exists, and he doesn't love it. My brother is one of the proudest, most self-sufficient people I know. He is a proud Marine who loves this country, and asking family, friends, and random strangers for help is not naturally in his DNA. But he knows the situation is what it is, and that Dana and Gracie need support he cannot provide right now.

So I am asking on his behalf, because that is what family does.

We are raising $150,000 to help bridge the gap while we work through the Medicaid process, cover what insurance never will, offset legal costs, and give Dana and Gracie a fighting chance at stability during the hardest stretch of their lives.

If $40 is all you can give, that covers one hour of Arnold's care and it means more than you know. If you can give more, every dollar goes directly toward keeping him where he needs to be.

Please know that 100% of every dollar donated goes to Arnold and Dana - for his care, and for any out-of-pocket expenses that continue to come at them from every direction.

Even if you can't give financially right now, please share this page. One share to the right person can change everything.

Arnold fought for this country. Now let's fight for Arnold.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you.

- Eric, Megan, Dana, Harold, and the Silverman Family