Help Rob's medical expense and travel to UCLA

Rob Hill, a native of Teton Valley and current resident of St. Anthony, Idaho, has battled repercussions of a serious snowmobile accident for thirty seven years. New challenges continue to beset him.

Rob and Stacie were only married six months when the accident happened, almost leaving him a paraplegic. A fusion of five vertebrae in his lower back meant months of rehab and an uncertain future. Rob beat the odds and returned to hard physical labor as a horseshoer, big game outfitter and selling gaited horses.

He actually broke the rods in his back as he persevered to support his wife and four children. With few complaints, Rob continued with the hard physical work he had always done. But around 2005 the fusion began to fail and it was noted that he had developed a rare kind of cyst in the center of the spinal cord. The large cyst filled with spinal fluid puts pressure on his spinal cord and the nervous system, especially the nerves in the legs. In 2010 the University of Utah deemed that the broken rods needed to be removed. They were, but unfortunately it did not alleviate the problem.

In 2013, Stacie took a travel nurse job in Phoenix and the family moved to Wickenburg, AZ. This allowed them to access a world-renowned hospital nearby, called the Barrow Neurological Institute. By that time, Rob was in great distress and a famous surgeon there performed a fourteen-hour surgery. He fused nine vertebrae and decompressed the cyst. As soon as Rob was well enough to travel the family returned to their home in Idaho.

About a year later the cyst once again filled but Rob could not return to the doctor in Arizona since that doctor had suffered an accident of his own. They recommended he be sent to UCLA Medical Center. Once there, they placed a shunt in his spinal cord between his shoulder blades. The problem with shunts is that they often fail after a time and must be replaced. This one had a controller which meant going back to SoCal occasionally to have it adjusted. It lasted for quite a while but during COVID it finally gave out. It wasn’t advisable to return to California at that time, so the couple opted to go back to U of U for his next procedure. It was the holidays and suddenly things went from bad to worse. After four surgeries in four months, Rob contracted meningitis. He spent 7 long weeks in ICU during which time a neurosurgeon placed a shunt in his head. Stacie had to be off work the entire time. With bills flooding in and little income, the family finances floundered.

Finally the family was reunited at home in St Anthony. In the meantime, the infection continues to be held at bay only with large doses of antibiotics. He unfortunately must often return to inpatient hospital care in Salt Lake City as indicated by symptoms and tests.

There is no way to clear meningitis that has settled in around a shunt without removing it. Because the shunt’s location is in Rob’s head and how it has healed, removing it is considered too risky. It could cause a brain bleed and kill him.

Rob recently was hospitalized once again at U of U as he has been so many times since 2020. His records have been sent back to UCLA to see if they can come up with a more effective treatment plan.

The cyst, which goes from the base of his head to his tailbone, is still causing major issues, headaches and infection as well as impaired mobility and balance. Rob will need to be on heavy antibiotics and other medications for the rest of his life unless a successful treatment plan is found. At this point he needs round the clock assistance, so Stacie cannot return to work at this time.

Please find it in your heart to help a deserving and devoted husband, family man, outdoorsman, horseman and friend, a guy with a great sense of humor and a supreme storyteller, and a wife who has devotedly stayed by his side through many years of hardship. Stacie and Rob would be forever grateful. They are thankful for anything you can donate to help them get to Southern California and to get through all the hard days ahead. Thank you so much very much.