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Helping the Merritts

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My name is Tiffany, and I'm 31 years old. I have 3 daughters with my fiance of 14 years...we have hit a very hard time in our life. I am not the type to ask for help, but I don't know where else to turn. These last few months our family has been through the ringer...In January, I suddenly became paralysed from the neck down. I spent a week in the hospital and during that time my fiance Tony used up all of his vacation days and personal hours from work to be home with our kids and be there for me...it took 2 months before I could learn to start walking again, but I had to use a walker...i did theraphy 3 times a week, every week...it took the doctors 4 months of testing to find out what was wrong. They said I have functional gait disorder with inner brain nerve abnormalities. Basically the nerves in the inner part of my brain stopped working properly for an unknown reason. This is an incurable disorder and it causes me to go paralysed randomly. I am lucky enough to be able to walk with a cane now, but I have a lot of set backs. I am unable to work due to this disorder, so my fiance is the sole provider for our family.

This is where things go from bad to worse...

In just the last 30 days, my fiance Tony has had to undergo 3 surgeries. 2 of those being emergencies...

First, he was at work and taken to the hospital because he collapsed in pain from his stomach. Scans showed he had a 4mm kidney stone that was lodged in his tube, and it was causing his kidney to swell. So he had to have emergency surgery to remove the stone. After the surgery he had a kidney stent put in and had to have it for a week...during This time he was unable to work, and had to miss a week with no pay...
A week after he healed from this surgery, he was in the hospital again. This time for his tonsils. He had a lump the size of a golf ball on the side of his neck. So they set up a day for him to have his tonsils removed which was on The 12th of this month...he was off work for another week with no pay...he had only been back to work for 2 days, when he went to bed, he woke up at midnight on the 20th hemorrhaging from the throat...this was the scariest night of our lives..he was taken to one of our local hospitals, and they were really concerned. They told me he had lost so much blood that they had to check his blood type to have more blood on standby..the doctors and nurses kept bracing me for the chance that he could bleed out...he was then transported from this hospital to another where his surgeon who originally did the surgery met us...the surgeon got there about 45 minutes later..by this time he had been hemmeraging for almost 4 hours. He was pail and light headed...he filled 5 hospital puke buckets 1/2 way with blood...the surgeon look at him and said he needed to go to surgery immediately...the doctor looked at me and said he will try everything he can to stop the bleeding, but there's a chance he could bleed out....i went to the waiting room, my world crashing down around me, and went to the bathroom and just dropped to my knees crying...and I prayed...i prayed so hard...
He was in surgery for 1 1/2 hours...the doctor came out and said thankfully he found it and stopped the bleeding In time...he was put in ICU recovery, then step 2 recovery before he could come home...he's home resting now But he has to be monitored and off work for at least 2 more weeks...and that's where asking for help comes in...

With Tony being off work practically an entire month with no pay due to these surgeries, our account is now depleted. We don't know how we will get money for gas to get to the appointments. Or special food he's only allowed to have...our bills are falling behind and we are concerned about stuff being shut off since everything is due around the same time...i have looked into payment plans with some bills but I dont even have money to put down for the start of the payment plans...i am trying to sell items on garage sale sites, but nothing is working..so someone suggested I try here...
While stressing about finances and our medical issues we are also trying to support our 3 kids who are also battling their own medical issues...my oldest is autistic, our middle daughter has epilepsy and has to be admitted for another 3 day test at the hospital in 2 weeks, and our youngest is high risk for neurofibromatosis and skin cancer...

Our family is being tested to the max right now, and we can't handle it ourselves no matter how much we try...so we turn to our family, friends, and community during this time...anything would help, and if you can't help, please share and just pray for my family.

Thank you,
The Merritts.

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Donations 

  • Laura Congrove
    • $20 
    • 6 yrs
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Organizer

Tiffany Burda
Organizer
Maumee, OH

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