Help support our favorite Miracle Man

Family isn’t always blood. It’s people in your life who want you in theirs; the ones who accept you for who you are. The ones who would do anything to see you smile and love you no matter what.

One of the most amazing things I’ve realized in this journey we call life is that I have had the incredible opportunity to come across people in life who instantly make such a lasting impact, that they become family.

That’s exactly what happened with the Howes. I met Rachel when she was 16 and I was 19, and we worked for the same restaurant. I instantly recognized a kindred spirit, and it didn’t take long for a deep friendship to form.

I remember, DISTINCTLY, when she told me that Nick had proposed to her. She couldn’t have been a day over 19 years old, and I’m fairly certain I did not mince words as I reminded her of that.

Then I met Nick. I was skeptical for about 4 seconds, before I realized that she had, in fact, found herself an amazing man.

I became ordained so I could perform their wedding ceremony. I’m their daughter’s godmother. This family means more to me than I can put into words, and I have two degrees in communication. So that tells you something.

This family is so incredible - and Nick has fought more battles in his 37 years than any of us will ever see in an entire lifetime.

A handful of years ago, he was diagnosed with Lymphoma. He went through multiple rounds of chemo, a stem cell transplant, and then finally a clinical trial (a last ditch effort to save his life). I’m convinced miracles can happen, because thanks to the CAR-T Cell clinical trial, Nick beat the battle with Lymphoma, and has been in remission for close to 6 years now.

Then, we get to April 2022. And everything started spiraling downhill.

He had a cough he couldn’t get rid of. Over the next few weeks, it got worse. On a Wednesday in May, Rachel called me and asked me to come over - Nick was not ok, and she was calling an ambulance.

I may or may not have broken the sound barrier as I raced to their house - to be met with an ambulance and firetruck in front of their house. I went to go find Rachel, figure out what was happening, and make sure her 4 year old daughter, my darling Julia Quinn and her twin 1 year old brothers, Levi Arben and Miles Nicholas were not aware of the chaos.

Just before the ambulance pulled away, I asked one of the EMTs if I could jump in the truck and talk to Nick. I held his hand, and told him I’d make sure his family was ok so he could work on recovering.

I haven’t been able to see him in person since.

Over the course of the next week, his health went downhill fast.

He went into heart failure.

He received a heart transplant.

The transplant was a success.

For a second, we thought we could breathe.

And how wrong we were.

He ended up contracting a virus that put him back in heart failure, forced his kidneys to shut down - the list was never ending… and the fear and heartbreak was the most real thing I’ve ever experienced.

He was placed on ECMO, in a medical induced coma for a few weeks.

As if that wasn’t enough, while he was in a bed on a machine helping his heart function, he had a spinal stroke. That spinal stroke left him paralyzed from the waist down.

He was able to fight the virus, and his amazing donor heart (his co-pilot) made a full recovery. But he doesn’t have the use of his legs.

Once he was released from the hospital, he went straight to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital, to start learning his new way of life and how to be as independent as possible.

He is still in and out of the hospital - his immune system hardly exists so something as otherwise innocuous as a head cold causes serious complications for him.

His wife, and my best friend in this world, is the STRONGEST person I’ve ever met. She has somehow managed to raise their kids, be there for her husband, be a present friend, and an active teacher.

Here is the ask, friends: the holidays are coming up, and we all know that teachers are NOT PAID WHAT THEY ARE WORTH. Handling the day-to-day costs (have you seen how expensive daycare is???? And they have twins in daycare!!!!).

We also know that medical expenses are ASTRONOMICAL. A private ambulance ride from Madonna to UNMC (an 11 mile drive) cost more than $1,000.

They had to install chair lifts in the house so Nick could get into the house, to the kitchen, and up to his bedroom.

Rachel, Nick, Julia, Levi, and Miles are my family. And they don’t ask for help. I’m asking you to find it in the goodness of your heart to help this family.

Other than being there for Rachel and Nick, helping take care of the kids, this situation is out of my control. But what is IN my control is doing this - setting up a gofundme page to let them know they are not alone. To let them know that people care about them.

To help relieve just one of a thousand burdens bearing down on this incredible family.