Together We Can Help Tyler Walk Again

Tyler was your average 16-year-old young man who - until very recently - was interested in all the usual things a young man his age would be.

On January 16 th of this year, he was diagnosed with a tumor in his spinal cord and underwent a 15-hour surgery on January 22 nd , 2024.

Needless to say, this has all been a life-altering event for not only Tyler, but for his entire family.

His family learned early on that while having “good” health insurance, the co-pay for the surgery was upwards of $100,000.00. Not many middle-class families have an extra 100k (certainly not me and certainly not the Gonzales family)!

Luckily, the hospital found a non-profit that did cover 85% of the bill for the hospital stay. The family had to come up with the remaining 15% ($15,000.00) - they were able to come up with $5,000 the day of the surgery and they are now on a payment plan with the hospital for the remaining $10,000.

This only included the first 2 weeks of the hospital stay, then they had to apply to an additional charity to get Tyler to the 4th floor (therapy floor).

Thankfully, they were able to get the same type of help they got for the 1st 2 weeks with 85% being paid for and having to pay the additional 15% for the remaining 4 weeks (which they haven’t gotten the bill for yet).

Tyler’s surgery was successful - so far - in removing the tumor. However, Tyler has a very long road to full recovery. He will be undergoing additional testing in the coming weeks to determine if he is truly in the clear.

He came out of surgery with significant loss of use of his left arm and extreme loss of use of both legs. He was released from the hospital 6 weeks after surgery. 

At this point in time, Tyler is in need of constant physical therapy if he is to walk again. Recently he told his dad that all he wanted to do was go for a walk

The current challenge is that the physical therapy needed is extensive and very costly to this already-burdened family. 

I would like to add at this point that Tyler’s father Gary is the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back if he thought you needed it more than he, and I know in the past he has been just that guy. Guys like Gary will pitch in to help you, but has a very hard time asking for help themselves.

There are so many reasons that I have been moved to start this GoFundMe.

Any of us could find ourselves in this situation, Tyler could be your child, brother, grandchild, classmate, friend…

Thankfully, most of us will not be faced with this kind of challenge.

I know that most of us will do anything we can to help another.

I understand that many of us are carrying plenty of challenges of our own and - if you cannot help monetarily - you can help by posting this to your social media.

If a lot of people give a little, it can make a huge difference in Tyler’s future! If you can help more, please do as the need is huge!

PLEASE re-post this and let’s get the word out to as many kind souls as possible!

Your compassion, prayers, and financial assistance are appreciated more than I can express.

I will be posting updates as soon as I have them.

Lynda