Vietnam Vet in need
Donation protected
Let me introduce you to our father, Keith J. Hanf. Born on December 18th, 1953, he was the oldest of three children of Edward, a World War II veteran and Margaret, a WWII war bride. Upon graduating from West Technical High School in 1972, he was drafted into the U.S. Navy and fought in the Vietnam War. While serving our county, his patrol boat was stuck by a grenade, killing his fellow servicemen and detaching his right leg below the knee. Thankfully for the five of us, he was found and his leg was reattached. Eventually he recovered, spending the rest of his military service on the USS Ponce.
Upon returning home, Keith went to work with his father at Modern Tool and Die, a position he would be laid off from several times before moving on. In October of 1976, he met Judy Ribar. On June 25th, 1977, they were married and started a family. 9 months later to the day, the oldest child Eric J. was born. Four years later, on November 3rd, 1982 Michael E. was born, followed by Anthony R. twenty- two months later on August 15th, 1984. Shortly after that, in 1985 Keith started working for the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier. Finally, on October 1st, 1989, twins Rachel A. and Renee M. were born.
In 1996, Keith was injured on the job. The injury was to his right leg, which was already weakened due to his military service. He therefore had to have knee reconstruction surgery which not only put him on his back for six months, it ended his career as a letter carrier, the only job he ever had that he loved. He was transferred to the Cleveland Postal main office and for most of the rest of his career worked overnights. To make matters worse, to support his five children Keith took massive amounts of credit card debt onto his shoulders while out of work. 60% of a paycheck, unfortunately, doesn’t cover the bills when there are five kids to feed.
Finally in 2009, Keith was diagnosed with kidney cancer. His kidney was removed a month after diagnosis and he has been cancer free ever since. Unfortunately, time takes its toll on all of us. His leg, of course, got worse as time went on, requiring a knee replacement in the mid-2000s. He developed diabetes, and his remaining kidney function dropped to approximately 20%.
Due to the large amount of debt taken on to support his family, Keith wasn’t able to pay for required repairs to his home, and in 2014 had to sell the family home and move in with Eric and his wife Cristina. However, this was a good move for Keith and his wife. With the burden of home ownership lifted, for the first time in 20 years Keith was able to pay down some of his debt. Also, he learned in early 2015 that his first grandchild was on his way. Things were looking up for Keith at that time.
On April 23, 2015 Keith J. Hanf suffered a major stroke. An artery in his brain burst, causing massive hemorrhaging. He was taken by ambulance to Parma General Hospital’s emergency room. From there, he was transferred to University Hospital Neuro ICU via helicopter, where a drain was installed in his head to try and relieve the pressure in his brain. Eventually, a shunt was installed to replace the drain. During his time at UH, Keith was comatose and unresponsive. We were told during that time that he would probably never wake up, and if he did, he would never walk, talk or feed himself ever again.
After a few weeks at the UH Neuro ICU, he was transferred to a long term hospital – Regency West. To our delight, after a few weeks at Regency, Keith woke up. Still on a ventilator, unable to speak, but awake, alert and responsive! The remainder of his time at Regency was spent weaning him from the ventilator until he could breathe on his own.
Once he was removed from the ventilator, he was moved to MetroHealth Stroke Rehabilitation where he started on physical, occupational and speech therapy. During his first assessment, it was found that while his right side was pretty fine, just weak after not moving for two to three months; his left side was practically paralyzed. However, he began talking again shortly after the move, hesitantly at first, but gaining strength to the point that by the time he left Metro, he could have full conversations.
After a month at Metro, Keith was moved to where he is now, Greenbrier Healthcenter, an assisted living facility. He continues to receive therapy, and recently was approved to move from all pureed foods to solids. He can now move his left leg and left arm a bit. He can stand with help, and can take a few steps with a walker.
Unfortunately, Keith has run out of paid time off at work. Our mother, Judy, no longer has any income and their health insurance will end any day now. Once the health insurance ends, there’s no way the family can afford to keep Keith at the facility. At the same time, there’s no way we can bring him home yet, neither Eric or Cristina can afford to quit their jobs to take care of him, and the family cannot afford an in-home care professional. The medical bills have been piling up, and there’s no possible way they can afford them. Judy can’t go back to work due to scoliosis and a failed spinal fusion surgery. We are attempting to get Keith on Medicare; however we are getting no response from them. We are also looking into getting his care transferred to the VA, but again, no response.
We are looking for help. We’ve exhausted all of our current resources and can’t think of where else to turn. He’s had to miss his daughter’s wedding and the birth of his first grandchild due to this. Preferably, we’d like to raise enough to pay the medical bills and keep him in the facility until he is ready to come home. At worst, we want to be able to pay for him to stay in the facility until he can at least stand and walk on his own, we can probably take it from there. Please, donate what you can and spread the word. Help us to help a disabled veteran not get thrown aside by an uncaring system.
Upon returning home, Keith went to work with his father at Modern Tool and Die, a position he would be laid off from several times before moving on. In October of 1976, he met Judy Ribar. On June 25th, 1977, they were married and started a family. 9 months later to the day, the oldest child Eric J. was born. Four years later, on November 3rd, 1982 Michael E. was born, followed by Anthony R. twenty- two months later on August 15th, 1984. Shortly after that, in 1985 Keith started working for the United States Postal Service as a letter carrier. Finally, on October 1st, 1989, twins Rachel A. and Renee M. were born.
In 1996, Keith was injured on the job. The injury was to his right leg, which was already weakened due to his military service. He therefore had to have knee reconstruction surgery which not only put him on his back for six months, it ended his career as a letter carrier, the only job he ever had that he loved. He was transferred to the Cleveland Postal main office and for most of the rest of his career worked overnights. To make matters worse, to support his five children Keith took massive amounts of credit card debt onto his shoulders while out of work. 60% of a paycheck, unfortunately, doesn’t cover the bills when there are five kids to feed.
Finally in 2009, Keith was diagnosed with kidney cancer. His kidney was removed a month after diagnosis and he has been cancer free ever since. Unfortunately, time takes its toll on all of us. His leg, of course, got worse as time went on, requiring a knee replacement in the mid-2000s. He developed diabetes, and his remaining kidney function dropped to approximately 20%.
Due to the large amount of debt taken on to support his family, Keith wasn’t able to pay for required repairs to his home, and in 2014 had to sell the family home and move in with Eric and his wife Cristina. However, this was a good move for Keith and his wife. With the burden of home ownership lifted, for the first time in 20 years Keith was able to pay down some of his debt. Also, he learned in early 2015 that his first grandchild was on his way. Things were looking up for Keith at that time.
On April 23, 2015 Keith J. Hanf suffered a major stroke. An artery in his brain burst, causing massive hemorrhaging. He was taken by ambulance to Parma General Hospital’s emergency room. From there, he was transferred to University Hospital Neuro ICU via helicopter, where a drain was installed in his head to try and relieve the pressure in his brain. Eventually, a shunt was installed to replace the drain. During his time at UH, Keith was comatose and unresponsive. We were told during that time that he would probably never wake up, and if he did, he would never walk, talk or feed himself ever again.
After a few weeks at the UH Neuro ICU, he was transferred to a long term hospital – Regency West. To our delight, after a few weeks at Regency, Keith woke up. Still on a ventilator, unable to speak, but awake, alert and responsive! The remainder of his time at Regency was spent weaning him from the ventilator until he could breathe on his own.
Once he was removed from the ventilator, he was moved to MetroHealth Stroke Rehabilitation where he started on physical, occupational and speech therapy. During his first assessment, it was found that while his right side was pretty fine, just weak after not moving for two to three months; his left side was practically paralyzed. However, he began talking again shortly after the move, hesitantly at first, but gaining strength to the point that by the time he left Metro, he could have full conversations.
After a month at Metro, Keith was moved to where he is now, Greenbrier Healthcenter, an assisted living facility. He continues to receive therapy, and recently was approved to move from all pureed foods to solids. He can now move his left leg and left arm a bit. He can stand with help, and can take a few steps with a walker.
Unfortunately, Keith has run out of paid time off at work. Our mother, Judy, no longer has any income and their health insurance will end any day now. Once the health insurance ends, there’s no way the family can afford to keep Keith at the facility. At the same time, there’s no way we can bring him home yet, neither Eric or Cristina can afford to quit their jobs to take care of him, and the family cannot afford an in-home care professional. The medical bills have been piling up, and there’s no possible way they can afford them. Judy can’t go back to work due to scoliosis and a failed spinal fusion surgery. We are attempting to get Keith on Medicare; however we are getting no response from them. We are also looking into getting his care transferred to the VA, but again, no response.
We are looking for help. We’ve exhausted all of our current resources and can’t think of where else to turn. He’s had to miss his daughter’s wedding and the birth of his first grandchild due to this. Preferably, we’d like to raise enough to pay the medical bills and keep him in the facility until he is ready to come home. At worst, we want to be able to pay for him to stay in the facility until he can at least stand and walk on his own, we can probably take it from there. Please, donate what you can and spread the word. Help us to help a disabled veteran not get thrown aside by an uncaring system.
Organizer and beneficiary
Tony Hanf
Organizer
Cleveland, OH
Keith Hanf
Beneficiary