Helping Ryan and April McClain

Hello everyone, I am looking to help my sister (April) and her husband (Ryan) and their two boys during this very difficult time. We are looking for donations to help get their home ready for Ryan to come home as well as the ongoing medical/insurance costs over the past 6 months.

Ryan and April are thankful for the love and support that has been shown throughout this entire process. As many of you know Ryan was diagnosed with Miller Fisher Syndrome (MFS) (a variant of Guillain-Barre syndrome) which is a rare nerve disease. For those of you who are not aware of the situation: Ryan was taken to the hospital on August 10th 2022 with some tingles in his arm and blurred vision and didn’t think it would be this severe. Ryan was even joking with his oldest son Tytan asking him to throw a football at him and he couldn’t catch it. Little did we know it was Miller Fisher Syndrome (MFS) after going from the Instacare – Lehi Hospital – American Fork Hospital then by ambulance up to IMC Murray. Ryan was quickly declining and losing more feeling and control of his body. Once they realized we were dealing with MFS we had a doctor come into the hospital at 2:30 a.m. to start Plasmapheresis treatment ASAP (Thank you!!) Ryan made the call to be intubated and the last thing he said to April was make sure you and the boys know I love them! Within 3 days Ryan had lost all his body movement from head to ankles. Ryan was able to move his feet ever so slightly and that was how the doctors and family communicated with Ryan. Shortly after being intubated Ryan and the doctors decided it was time to do a Tracheostomy. Throughout the time at IMC it was a roller coaster of good and bad days. On August 30th, Ryan was transferred to Utah Valley Specialty Hospital as they could take someone with a trach and every doctor/therapist helped every step of the way! We were able to see improvements slowly, starting with moving his head a half inch left and right, to opening his left eye and then the right eye. Over a long period of time the respiratory therapists got Ryan breathing on his own and we got the trach removed!!!! Once the trach was removed Insurance was fighting and trying to get Ryan to a long-term care facility and on January 23rd he was moved to the rehab center. Well with taking one step forward we got sent two steps back and Ryan got COVID and was sent to the hospital as he was struggling to breathe, luckily Ryan has been a fighter throughout this whole time and is now back at the rehab center and is slowly making progress to come home. We are hoping he can come home toward the end of March. With coming home, there is still a lot to do to get the home ready as Ryan is still mostly paralyzed, and will be coming home in a wheelchair and will need April's help to get anywhere. Right now Ryan is able to move his hands left and right but has no strength and he can not pick up his own legs yet. We hope with continuing physical therapy he can continue to progress but for now, this is where we are at.

With everything going on Ryan has not been to work since August 10th and his company (Nice CXone) has been AMAZING and very supportive, but due to laws in Utah on February 8th Ryan was placed on Long term disability which is only a percentage of what their salary was and now they have to pay for COBRA insurance which is very expensive and all the bills from August 10th have been adding up. We can not thank everyone that has helped the McClain family get to this point from every doctor/therapist and family or friends that have helped with not just April and Ryan but Tytan and Tripp.

This is only part of the story. Throughout this time it has been an emotional rollercoaster and it has been very difficult to watch April and Ryan go through this difficult time, so we truly appreciate any help. If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out/Message Jacob Stowe and I would be happy to answer any questions or concerns.

Seriously, Thank you for any help!