Help Support Ken and Heather With Medical Expenses

On January 25th, Heather was able to talk Ken into going to Decatur Memorial Hospital (DMH) since he had been experiencing trouble breathing. Ken was admitted with double pneumonia. Pneumonia coupled with diabetes and already failing kidneys, made for a grim diagnosis.

This troubling news came just 13 days after Jeff's (Ken's Dad) funeral. While Bonita and Heather were continuing to grieve, they were faced with yet more tough decisions to make as they quickly learned that DMH was unable to provide level of care that Ken needed to survive.

On February 2nd, the search began for a new hospital to transfer him to. At this time, Ken was placed on a ventilator to give his lungs rest. Barnes, Cleveland and Chicago all accepted him but had no ICU beds available. Ken needs were so complex because he needed a hospital that was able to continue with dialysis and ECMO. Finally, St. Louis University Hospital was able to accept him. But as luck would have it, Illinois/Missouri had experienced unseasonably warm weather for February that caused a fog advisory, making travel by helicopter impossible. And the care team at DMH, believed that Ken was not stable enough to make the trip by ambulance. So the wait continued.

February 3rd, after the fog cleared, Ken was able to be airlifted to St. Louis. Bonita and Heather quickly gathered what they could and made their way to St. Louis. (which is 118 miles one-way).

February 4th, Ken continued to be heavily sedated, as well as paralyzed (we unfortunately learned the hard way that it's in the patient's best interest that they are both). The new care team at St. Louis University continued to rotate Ken from his stomach and then to his back. This is one positive that the medical field discovered during the pandemic. They continued this form of treatment for six days! By February 10th, they began to slowly wean him off of the sedation medications. Which was a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, Ken continues to receive dialysis and on the vent. On Heather’s Birthday and Valentines Day, Ken was down to a minimal sedation amount. When Heather walked into the room, Ken opened his eyes for just a little bit. However, this day marked the 14th day on a ventilator, and it is the best interest to remove him from it so that additional damage would not occur. On February 15th, Ken was taken to surgery for a Tracheotomy, as well as a feeding tube. After surgery he was doing better than expected. Small steps! February 16th, Ken underwent yet another surgery, but this time it was for a different placement of a port to receive dialysis. And on February 17th, he was able to receive another form of dialysis, which he seemed to respond better to. Progress, that is all that matters at this point. Ken’s total stay at St. Louis University was 31 days.

On March 5th, Ken was transferred to Kendrid Hostpital in Downtown St. Louis, were they will continue to have dialysis and they will try to wean him off of the trach. He has begun physically therapy. However, that stay was short lived and Kenneth was transferred back to St. Louis University on March 6th because he needed his Hemo Dialysis catheter fixed. After a 7-night stay, Kenneth was transferred back to Kindred to restart his therapy. He certainly has a very long road to recovery ahead and it seems like it's been two steps forward and one step back.

Bonita is continuing to face health issues herself as she drives back and forth from Minnesota to see her care team at Mayo. And Heather, while she has not left Ken’s side, has now exhausted her paid time off and will have to return to work.

This GoFundMe is to raise funds to help with rising medical costs, gas and lodging. The estimated breakdown is as follows:

Hospital Stay: $3,000 avg per day/41 days= $123,000

Long Term Care Facility (avg stay 30 days): $225 avg per day/ 30 days = $6,750

Helicopter: avg $40,000

Lodging: $100 per day/ 71 days = $7100

Gas: 236 miles round-trip @ $3.75 gal = roughly $142

EST TOTAL: $177,000+

While Ken does have health insurance, we are unsure of how much, if any, will be covered. And currently, we have no timeline as to when he will be able to come home. While he is making great strides, he will have to have multiple types of therapies to help him regain his strength to walk and talk.

On behalf of the Amenda family, we cannot thank everyone enough for your continued support!

If you would like to send a card, picture or well wishes:

Kenneth Amenda

4930 Lindell Blvd

St. Louis MO 63108