Hi my name is Susie and I’m fundraising for my husband

Ivan went into hospital with cellulitis (a skin infection) on Thursday 09/04 after a few days of a sore leg/abscess that was giving him grief. He went well, was on antibiotics and then on Sunday started going downhill very quick- high heart rate, fever and delirium. He developed sepsis- which is when the infection goes into your bloodstream. Sepsis affects all your major organ and body systems- it is the worst possible health condition you can have and has an extremely high mortality rate. He went into emergency surgery for his skin infection (an abscess) and the team found something incredibly rare called: necrotising fasciitis. It’s extremely rare, often called ‘flesh eating disease’ where the tissue dies and cannot regenerate due to an aggressive bacteria. It has a high mortality rate and Ivan was more at risk because of his diabetes and his history of cancer. It is very difficult to treat and can often result in amputation and removal of muscles and bone, in worst cases death.

He had 2x surgeries in Wangaratta - he had almost his entire lower abdomen tissue removed due to a rapidly spreading infection (size of football). Infection is continuing to spread, he is on the most aggressive form of antibiotics you can have. He has been intubated since Sunday on a ventilator and unconscious. He went into septic shock following the first surgery in Wang- which is a medical emergency. He was on lots of medications for this to stabilise him. He had another surgery in Wang before the team decided he needed specialist care and plastic surgery to reconstruct his abdomen.

He got transferred to Melbourne’s Alfred Hospital ICU- where they have a specialist team for necrotising fasciitis. He is having his fourth surgery tomorrow- when the team will clean out the dead tissue again.

Today, he failed to come off his ventilator. The team has said this is quite common and will try again tomorrow after his surgery- but they have made it clear it could still be a number of days.

He continues to have a fever, so his health is changing by the hour. At this point he is stable but this could change at any point.

At present myself and our daughter are staying in accommodation that is expensive unfortunately. We desperately need funds for day to day living and bills that just keep coming despite everything happening. Any small amount helps bless you all and many thanks in advance