Help Our Dre Boy Heal His Hips!

UPDATED From Dre’s Mom on 3/24/24

We’ve found joy in the chaos. We have laughed and we have cried. We have felt our sadness and we have focused on hope.

We’ve held our baby’s hand for 159 days of watching him deteriorate with zero understanding of what to do. We have asked for a specialty facility and have been denied at every turn. We have asked the heavens to guide us because we cannot do this alone. We will continue to follow where the path leads us and trust ❤️‍ We are beginning the preparations to leave next week. We will be directly admitted into a hospital downstate with an orthopedic surgeon who wants to help. He specializes in hips and cerebral palsy. We are terrified and hopeful. We don’t know how we are going to do any of this. We also felt the same in October, November, December, January, February and now in March. April brings a new adventure with high hopes for answers! We are praying that Dre’s pain is under control for transport. He will not have numb hips this time and we have to go twice as far. Lodging and food has been our largest hurdles with us not being able to eat at the hospital and they don’t have any hospitality houses. Praying for all to work itself out like it has so far. Sending love to all of you for your continued prayers, letters, gifts, love and support. This is the first time we’ve been invited to a hospital instead of having to beg for help! We also have a specialty doctor! All things we haven’t had yet! Hope is all around us! Thank you ALL for being on this insane journey with us! We couldn’t do it without you❤️‍ Fist bumps from our number one D.R.E.

We Believe In The Good Things Coming Dre

Picture from 2022

UPDATED 2/17/24

Good news to the worst news….

They found severe labral hip tears on both of his hips. This causes pain radiating down the knees. Pain increases with long periods of sitting, standing or walking. Sitting for all these months of dismissals and misdiagnosis has made this much worse for Dre. We are grateful for a diagnosis. There are other issues with his body for being bedbound for so long. The doctors stated that we are untying a really messy knot. Surgery is the only way to fix his hips. This surgery is an outpatient surgery. They do not have this procedure in hospitals. They do them at surgical centers. They do not have the surgeons who specialize in these surgeries contracted at the hospital. There is no way to get the surgery here. We must take the referral and go to a consultation with the orthopedic surgeon and get in line for surgery. The wait is approximately 3 months depending on when you can get a consultation appointment. He will continue to decondition and he will need a lot of rehabilitation when we are done.

We are devastated and heartbroken with zero solutions. We’ve been unable to transport him or get him in a wheelchair for over 100 days and licensed therapist failed at it for 25 days of rehab but somehow we are supposed to be able to do it and no one can help Today we hear the hospitals plan to send us home. Doctor’s have yelled at us for months that if we don’t get him up and walking he may never walk again… now they sign the paper for us to go home and sit for months while his body continues to deteriorate. We believe we have found a surgeon. They are in Royal Oak. We are unsure exactly how we are going to transport him. We are waiting for a miracle for our baby and will continue to beg at every opportunity for someone to help him soon! ❤️‍❤️‍

We Believe In The Good Things Coming Dre

Thank you all for your continued love and prayers for our family. Words fail to express our extreme gratitude

UPDATED 2/7/24

The rehabilitation hospital scheduled discharge on 1/31 in worse condition than when he arrived. Unable to transport him at all, we were being transported by ambulance in a stretcher back home, where he would be bed bound and we would be unable to get him out of the house. With no way to access further medical care. 40 minutes before transport arrived, Dre had his 3rd episode of screaming and shaking in extreme pain, and proved again that there was no safe way to send him home. We were transferred to Blodgett hospital where Dre is awaiting the scans that we have requested since October. 

Dre will have MRI’s under anesthesia On 2/8 @ 11am 

Repeat MRI of the Lumbar Spine

MRI of the Thoracic Spine, right hip and right knee.

If there is a structural issue in the results, we still need to get Dre’s muscular body ready for a surgical repair. He has been bed bound for too long and dismissed. We still feel that an osteopath who specializes in manual manipulation would helpful for that.

Our next option would be to get to Mayo for further diagnostics outside of Northern Michigan. We have been told that the hospital cannot help us get to Mayo or U of M. We are checking on Angel Flights and potential sedation for a transfer we are trying to arrange by ourselves. There is no help within the system and he just keeps getting tossed back and forth. We are looking for any doctors that want to help Dre.

More of the story that began in October 2023:

It is with a heavy and aching heart that I write this today, in an attempt to reach out to our community for support. So many of our family members, chosen family, and friends, have reached out for meals or asking how you can support my parents, and it’s been hard to arrange with their strict diet restrictions, as well as the moment by moment planning and needs during this time. I decided to try to help organize a way that those of you looking to help, can support my parents in the way they need most. For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Sam, daughter of Wink and Mahina (Chris and Tanya Winkelmann) and older sister for Dre and Kai. A few months ago, when we were trying to have a family beach day Mama was complaining of stomach pain. After pushing through to spend time with us, she landed herself in the hospital with multiple hernias and was forced to discontinue work. I have watched and tried to help as my mom has tried to find another job she could physically manage, just to be denied at every turn and have to wait over a month for surgery. Post surgery, while recovering, my husband and my littlest daughter was admitted to the hospital in critical respiratory distress when I was 1200 miles away. As always, my parents jumped into the action to help and support my husband and I. Staying up at the hospital night after night with her grandbaby, advocating for her, crying with us, all the while my dad was catching everything we couldn’t. We were so relieved when she was released. We couldn’t wait to let my mom get back to resting and healing her body, post surgery. Only to be hit with another whammy 2 days later. Our precious Dre, my hero and one of the most important people in my life, complained of pain and asked to sit down. For a special needs man with cerebral palsy and the highest pain tolerance I’ve ever witnessed, this was heartbreaking for us to hear. My parents took him the the ER and have had to fight tooth and nail to get him treated and evaluated for over a week now because he does not display pain in the traditional sense and communicating with him in this state has proved nearly impossible. The hospital has been unable to manage Dre’s pain, and still cannot figure out what is causing him to be so uncomfortable he can barely sleep, eat, talk, joke, smile, or even do our lifelong sibling handshake with me. This pain has caused him to scream and even become physically violent which is absolutely heart wrenching to witness. For those who know my brother, you know that he is the brightest light. Full of hugs, smiles, positive energy, good vibes, and kindness. He’s funny and sweet, and loves all beings he meets. Always, in all ways. He would hold anyone’s hand and hug anyone’s troubles away. But he is in so much pain, he can barely sit up and barely talks to even us. The hospital has cleared his bone structure and they are beginning physical therapy to help him recover, but it will be a long road, and will prevent my parents from being able to catch up financially, because Dre will need around the clock care at home from a hospital bed and cannot even move himself to go to the bathroom. Our sweet Lorelei is back in the hospital as of today again as well, our family and support system has been just rocked by the craziness of the waves that keep hitting us at this time. Now, both of my parents have been unable to work and the bills are piling up and hitting them much harder than they can manage alone, as they have been hit with set back after set back medically and they cannot sustain like this any longer. My parents have been hit so hard by all of this, emotionally, physically, and having the financial strain on top of it is just too much for any family to handle. Even $1, $5, or $10 could make a huge impact for them if we can reach enough people. If you cannot donate, please like, comment, save, and share this so we can reach as many people as we can to try and lift and light my parents up in this draining and dark time. Send up a prayer, send out healing vibes, we are grateful for it all.