Dear friends, family, and community,

We are here to reach out and ask for each of you to find it in your hearts to help us stay together in our home with all of our fur babies during Shane's journey with ALS.

*** ALS:

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), formerly known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurological disorder that affects motor neurons. Motor neurons are the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord that control voluntary muscle movement and breathing.

As motor neurons degenerate and die, they stop sending messages to the muscles. This causes the muscles to weaken, start to twitch (fasciculations), and waste away (atrophy). Eventually, in people with ALS, the brain loses its ability to start and control voluntary movements such as walking, talking, chewing, and other functions, as well as breathing. ALS is progressive, meaning symptoms get worse over time. ALS IS A TERMINAL DISEASE. ***

Most of our friends and family know our story, but for those of you who don't, let me share it with you.

I am Mandy Harrington and my husband is Shane Harrington. We are just average everyday people surviving life one day at a time. We love our family, friends, fur babies, sharing laughs, hanging out with those we love, and simple moments. Shane is the most caring, fun-loving, big-hearted guy I know. He always has a joke to share and never meets a stranger... YOU might have had an encounter with him standing in line at the store.

Our lives changed forever last year when "Shane's Health Journey," as I call it, started. In 2024, things weren't right with Shane. We, along with those in our circle, were noticing changes in him. Those things ranged from weight loss, muscle loss, changes in his speech, being tired more frequently than normal, personality changes, a drop foot, and he felt he couldn't get a deep breath. In December of 2024, he sustained an injury and didn't seem to be improving with physical therapy. We did see his doctor in December, but his blood work checked out, and the weight loss seemed to be from his GLP-1 for his diabetes. February rolls around, and nothing has improved, so we go back to the doctor and request further testing. The health journey all starts to unfold on March 28th of 2025. We were at the hospital for an MRI of his brain and a CT of his lungs. While he was back there being scanned, I had a discussion with a longtime friend of Shane's who is a nurse. After going over all of Shane's symptoms, we agreed going to the ER may be our best option to find answers faster. That trip to the ER resulted in Shane having a 5-way heart bypass surgery, being placed on a BiPAP machine for breathing, and spending about two weeks in the hospital. At the time, I was working two jobs, and he was already weak before the surgery, so we opted for him to go into a rehab facility for recovery after surgery. His stay at the rehab was a nightmare and a whole story in itself. I ultimately had him removed by ambulance and taken back to the hospital. He was very confused and had been hallucinating. Because of that, we were able to see a neurologist on this visit to the hospital. They were running tons of tests and scans trying to figure out what was going on. The neurologist did tell us he thought we were looking at ALS as a possibility, but they didn't offer the tests needed to diagnose it at the hospital. We came back home, and I had to quit my part-time job to care for him. He wasn't able to be alone. Some family and friends helped out for me to be able to continue to work my full-time job. He had PT, OT, and a home health nurse coming in weekly. Then in mid-May 2025, he developed a blood clot... back to the hospital we went. Once we came home, all the home health continued. We finally got into the neurologist in late June 2025, and Shane was officially diagnosed with ALS. Right there, that moment, it broke us. News no one wants to hear. He is only 58 and has so much life left to live. But the life expectancy after an ALS diagnosis on average is 2-5 years. We figure he definitely had it at least a year prior to diagnosis. During all this, the bottom of his heart incision wasn't healing. In July 2025, he had surgery to remove the wires from that area. We also attended our first ALS clinic that month. During the clinic, you have a whole team that meets with you: a neurologist, respiratory therapist, PT, OT, speech therapist, dietitian, nurse, social worker, and an ALS representative. It was a lot to take in, but now we had answers and a team to help guide us. They switched him to a non-invasive ventilator, which he uses at all times. They got him in a Permobil electric wheelchair, which he's in 24 hours a day. Life kept going, and so did his health issues. That surgery in July... well, the wound wouldn't heal, so he started seeing the wound care doctor. Through all this, he started losing function in his left arm, he can't hold his neck up, weak legs, issues swallowing, and pressure sores on his nose from his face mask. In December 2025, he had a feeding tube placed. A few days later, while I was at work, he suffered from a fall and a trip to the hospital to be checked out. After that fall, I had to quit working so I can be home to be his full-time caregiver. Two days later, he developed an abscess and ended up having surgery. Then after all that, there were issues with his feeding tube, and they had to remove it. He will hopefully be having it replaced in March. Over the last couple of weeks, his right arm has been getting weaker, his swallowing a little worse, and a few days ago, his legs have started giving out. Up until now, he could get out of his chair and, with the use of a walker, make it a few steps to the tub or bedside commode. Now we use the Hoyer lift for those things. With ALS, we know it only gets worse.

It is hard to pour it all out here and ask for donations to help us pay our bills and medical expenses. We both worked hard for the life we have. Shane was a truck driver for the same company for 29 years, and his last day of work was March 28th, 2025. I worked two jobs, and now I am a full-time caregiver. We have lost well over half of our combined income, and the bills don't stop. We are on a waitlist for a Medicaid waiver, but that waitlist is about 2 years long from what I've been told. 2 years... we are about 6 months in, and who knows if he will still be around when he reaches the top of that list. With all of our expenses, we fall short by a lot. We have been fortunate enough to maintain things until now. Shane wants to finish out his life in the home he finally was able to buy, surrounded by me and the fur babies. Hopefully, with help from friends, family, and the community, we can make that happen for him.

We want to say thank you for taking the time to read our story.

*** Important Note: If you choose to donate, please be sure to select "Give Once" rather than monthly. Unless you want to give monthly. Also, automated tip to GoFundMe is entered....Be sure to adjust the amount to zero, unless you want to provide a tip. ***