Help the Lieder Family After Mike's Tragic Loss

♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡ ALL DONATIONS ARE SENT DIRECTLY TO MIKE'S WIFE, KATHY, SHE IS THE LINKED BENEFICIARY. SHE WILL DISTRIBUTE FUNDS APPROPRIATELY ♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡♡

This is a long read. I know that a lot of you are lost and confused as to what happened to Dad. In an attempt to alleviate our family's financial burden, I have written The Journey of Mike Lieder to provide transparency and an explanation of the events leading to his death. He was so humbled by everyone's love and support at the end of his life.

Please also see the link for the family meal train:

https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/3346vy

☆ ☆ ☆ THE JOURNEY OF MIKE LIEDER ☆ ☆ ☆

After losing our beloved Dad & Husband, the Lieder family is looking for assistance. Mike's death was fast and unexpected.

About 7yrs ago he was diagnosed with Lupus and began treatment for symptoms. It took a long time for doctors to even test to determine if it was Discoid or Systemic Lupus, stating that "there was no difference between the two." He was able to maintain working mostly, except for flares. In November 2023, while working in Madison, he experienced some chest pain and shortness of breath. He drove himself home to Rhinelander and went to the ER. He had a Pneumothorax (collapsed lung). A chest tube was placed.

On January 23rd, after 5 more pseudopmnuemothoraxes, chest tubes, talc and stick procedures, and a lung wedge resection, Mike was diagnosed with a rare C1q deficiency, COPD, pleural effusion, bronchitis, and Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis, (GPA). We were told he had some "nodules" in his lungs. They biopsied a few of them, saying they were just granulomas associated with Lupus & GPA. The day after Christmas 2024, he began Rituximab Chemo treatment, for his GPA. He had 2 infusions.

Mike's pain increased, along with his shortness of breath. On February 4th, Mike felt the need to go to the ER. He was hemorrhaging from his spleen, and his breathing continued to get worse. He developed hospital-acquired pneumonia due to his many hospital stays, diagnoses, and compromised immunity. At that time, it was found that Mike had MORE "nodules" in his lungs, kidneys, and liver. His family was assured that they were not concerned, it was again just his GPA and Lupus.

Rhinelander wanted to remove his spleen, which would've destroyed any immunity that he had. His family encouraged him to go to Wausau when he began to cough up blood after discharge from Rhinelander.

The care team in Wausau indicated there was nothing more that they felt they could do. Continued surgeries were too much of a risk, due to his current status. They placed a plurex drain, as his lung would not stop filling with fluid. There was even talk among staff that Mike was "pain med seeking." Wausau gave him 4 days of pain meds and encouraged him to return to work in one week.

His lung had to be routinely drained to alleviate pain and allow his shortness of breath to improve. The draining went from every 3 days, to a day and a half, to less than 24hrs. His primary doctor called on February 24th, urging us to bring him to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. Stating that he was rapidly declining and that Mayo was his only chance at survival.

His family rushed, but remained strong to make the 4.5-hour drive to Mayo Clinic late at night. The amount of pain that the drive caused him was hard to bare. His wife Kathy, daughters Renee, and Brooke, and son-in-law, Marty got him to the ER, where his pain was better managed. He was given Dilaudid, but due to Mike not wearing his dentures, he kept requesting "gelato" for his pain.

He was admitted to the Francis building. The care team at Mayo worked diligently, and swiftly to determine what was going on with Mike. They were running tests on everything under the sun, including Tuberculosis. He was moved to a negative pressure room in the Nassiff Tower, (they call it the "penthouse," as it's the highest floor in the building), and placed on airborne precautions due to this.

They continued to test, one nurse said this is the 2nd most blood that they had ever taken from a patient. They found that Mike had the same (or new) hospital-acquired pneumonia, MRSA, and a staff infection at his Plurex drain site. His spleen had an encapsulated hemorrhage. His lung wouldn't stop filling with fluid, and he had more "nodules" in his lungs, liver, kidneys, lymph nodes, and rotator cuff muscle. A CT from the day before was used to compare, which indicated new "nodules" were forming at a rapid speed.

His care team stated that whatever *this* was, was aggressive and rapidly spreading. They had thoughts of an inflammatory process, infection, or (the words no one wants to hear), cancer. Mayo was stumped, they had never seen anything like this before. They sent samples to the best lab in the US in California, for assistance in a diagnosis, and a PET scan was scheduled for when Mike's Tuberculosis precautions were lifted, as an ambulance would have to bring him to the downtown location.

Mike's son Ryan, and soon-to-be son-in-law, John made the journey with his 2 beloved grandchildren, Hayden Mikel & Taliyah Eve.

That night, after finally seeing all of his immediate loved ones, Mike requested a McDouble from McDonalds. Previously, he was only tolerating ice chips and protein shakes. He lost nearly 40lbs during his journey.

Mike never had anxiety, he was one of the strongest, most determined men to have lived. Mike wanted to doctors to fix him, as he wanted to be able to go home and return to a normal life with his family. Due to this, his drive to live was strong.

On February 26th, his daughter, Brooke, who is a registered nurse noticed some alarming heart rhythms on his heart monitor. She alerted staff, and after an assessment was completed, and he was monitored for about an hour, his care team decided he needed to go to the ICU due to his rapid decline. His oxygen kept dipping below 82%, and at some points was into the 70s. His nasal cannula at 6L just wasn't enough anymore.

Mike was angry to go the ICU, it was late at night. The family had to wear papr PPE to see him due to Tuberculosis testing not yet being resolved. They were allowed to see him 2 at a time.

The PET scan revealed whatever *this* was, was peppered through his body, including most of his bones. He had a large 12.6cm x 4.5cm mass in his right lung. Keep in mind, that and baby's head is 10cm when born. This mass was compressing his right bronchus, and that's why he couldn't breathe.

Biopsies had not yet resulted, this became a race of time. Mike was switched to a face mask, to allow a higher level of oxygen to be administered. At that time, he was stable. The ICU decided since he did not have Tuberculosis, it was safe to move him to a different unit.

On Friday, February 28th, he was moved to the Domitilla unit, where the vasculitis specialists reside. Mike was on that unit for 5-6hrs, then required a Rapid Response team to interview, then as he began to red line with his oxygen saturation and heart rhythms. This occurred as his family was back at the hotel, eating supper. He was brought back to the ICU, but in a more intensive unit than last time.

The biopsy had still not resulted, being a Friday, this was awful news for everyone involved. Mike began to struggle and stated that he did not think he would make it 2 days. He continued to fight, he just wanted to get better and go home.

Saturday, Mike was stable after trialing a high-flow nasal cannula. He was hopeful, his family was hopeful. As the day went on, Mike began to decline again. His work of breathing became so difficult. He kept stating how tired he was, and that he didn't know how much longer he could do this.

He continued to have episodes where his oxygen kept declining. His heart had more preventricular contractions than ever before. He was skipping beats, it was horrible for everyone, especially Mike.

Mike's episodes needing intervention became more frequent. He was struggling so very much. His wife, Kathy was able to stay in the ICU overnight to comfort him. He was able to see all of his immediate family on Saturday, everyone was in the room.

At approximately 0245 in the morning, Mike had his worst episode yet. His oxygen was running in the 40's. Kathy was asked to wait in the family area. She called her children who rushed across the street. The wait seemed to be an eternity.

Finally, the family was updated that Mike could no longer breathe on his own. They had placed him on a ventilator to accommodate this. During his episode, his blood pressure, pulse, and oxygen became very unstable. They gave him Fentanyl, Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, and Propofol to stabilize him.

His family was told he would have no memory of this traumatic event due to the amnesia effects of Propofol. They also stated that they would slowly reduce the medication doses, in an attempt to see if the medications allowed Mike to stabilize them just enough to no longer need them.

During shift change, around approximately 0700, Mike continued to decline, requiring his Epinephrine and Norepinephrine to be maxed out. His family was informed that this meant that Mike would pass away soon. His family's world was turned upside-down.

His Daughters, Brooke and Renee began calling his family back home and placing the calls on speaker, by his ear. Not a single person did not get to say goodbye. Soft classical music was played, and he was kept comfortable. The cancer was so widespread, and stage 4. The cancer was so advanced, that it had infiltrated EVERY SINGLE ORGAN, BONE, LYMPH NODE, ETC. Mike being the strong individual that he is endured. Any other human would have died a long time ago.

Slowly, medications were removed, and he was disconnected from the ventilator. Mike's wishes were to pass away, should there be no hope. At 0955 on March 2nd, Mike wandered out of his body. He was no longer with the living.

The heartbreak was unreal. His death was so sudden and unexpected. His family still did not have answers, as his biopsies were not yet back. Mike was a private person, he did not want anyone but his immediate family with him and did not wish to share outside that circle.

I know many people are shocked and confused. Please let "The Journey of Mike" allow you to know what had happened to him, and please do not take his choice of privacy/not sharing during his last week alive, personally. He wanted everyone to remember who he was, not what had become of him. He was a proud man, and his family refused to let that be taken from him.

His family have become burdened financially. His wife, and his children took off work to be with him, and are now behind on bills, and expectations. End-of-life expenses, his stay at Mayo, side projects, and other miscellaneous agendas have caused extreme financial hardship.

We hope that by sharing this information, Mike's family may have some of this financial burden relieved. This will never make up for our loss, and anger that his cancer was missed over the years. It will help us be able to carry on, without him. The cancer affected every organ, every bone, every cell in his body. Most people would have died a long time ago. Mike's strength, and wishes to get better, and go home with his family kept him going.

The family will host a celebration of life this summer, in an attempt to save and pull funds. Any donation is greatly appreciated. Please see below for special thank yous from the Lieder Family.

Thank you for allowing us to call, so that Mike knew how f*cking much he was loved/for providing support for his family during this horrific event:

Ricky (Brandee) Bailey

Nancy Bailey

Ute (Steve) Stampfl

Rose Ottman

Pete (Jeannie Van-Zile) Lieder

Jasmine (Mike) Rinaldi

Jake (Jen) Trudeau

Jerry (Amanda) Trudeau

Justin (Linda) Trudeau

Beth (Karl) Otteson

Becky Lieder

Janice (Jerry) Fiorovante

Lisa (Tony) Hansen

Eli (Britt) Hansen

Shannon Hansen

Jordan Hansen

Daryl Young

Special thanks to:

Ricky Bailey for his support and helping us be there for Mike

John Miklas, the only man who Mike approved of marrying his daughter, Renee or fathering his grand babies. John held down the fort at Mike and Kathys home, and took care of the family dog, Pluto. He watched the kids the majority of the time when he was in Minnesota, so Renee could be with Mike, and comforted Renee throughout Mikes journey. John has never been so strong, and that didn't go unnoticed for a second. Mike knew that, too.

The same goes for Marty Niemuth, Brookes Husband. He effectively played many roles, and was such a blessing. He was the driver, the bouncer, the family therapist, the jester, the coordinator, the laundry doer. He was everything, he was the glue who lifted everyones spirits.

Amy Stephenson for taking care of Brooke and Marty's furbaby, Sam. This allowed Ryan to make the drive over, and be with his Dad for his last few days

Alana Towne-Effinger & Alec Effinger, Brooke and Marty's awesome neighbors, kept an eye on the house while away, and are currently snowblowing our driveway. Alec, know that your Dad is so proud of you

Janice Fiorovante for keeping an eye on Pluto and Mike and Kathy's home while away

Adam Zmek and Kyle Wagler for helping cover Brooke's shifts while away

Print pack for allowing Ryan to be away

Rhinelander Smokeshop for allowing Marty to be away

Daryl Young for being one of Mike's closest friends, and colleague

Mike's extended family, Dennis Whickham, Eric "Junk Monk", and many, many more!

Everyone that Mike used to work with, especially Aaron Kowalski.

*******If you were not mentioned, or have reached out with no reply, please do not take this personally. We are all grieving, and it can be overwhelming at times to communicate so much. We greatly appreciate your support and will reach out when it's a good time for us