Just liver little for Michael

Michael Harris, 35 years old, was diagnosed with Liver Failure in June. This page is being set up to help him pay for his everyday needs, food, and to help him keep up with rent over the next few months.

Michael is a beloved part of the Hammond community. He has lived in the area for over 10 years and has a son in the Baldwin school district. He worked at the Hammond Hotel, Junior’s, Dairy Queen, Bos n Mine and now is part of the Ras’ on Main family.

Michael’s health has been declining for months but no one knew how bad this would turn out. At the beginning of the year Michael started to complain of inflammation in his ankles, after wrapping them it seemed to get better.  We all thought that it was from a past injury we did not know the future outcome. As fast as we thought he was getting better the inflammation came back worse, over the spring his ankles and legs started to swell more and more till he was hurting after every shift that he worked. His socks would even leave imprints in his skin. After a short time later, the swelling started to spread to his knees. The real indication that something was not right was Michael gained over 40 pound in a month. Michael put off going to the doctor because he did not want to miss work (one of his passions) and he did not want to create more bills for himself. This unfortuently would be a detrimental decision. When Michael finally went to the doctor they rushed him to United Hospital. Once he was admitted, they soon diagnosed him with liver failure. All the weight that he gained was water weight that was sitting in his abdomen. All the water was doing damaged to his other organs, so they went in and drained over four quarts of fluid. They kept Michael in the hospital for over week. They then released him and sent him home.

The Baldwin hospital has refused to continue treating Michael unless he pays his medical bills. So there doesn’t look like there will be a lot of time left for Michael but worrying about how he is going to put food on the table or how he is going to pay rentis the last thing that he needs.  Not to mention all the medical debt that has been building up for months. By working together to raise this money, we can help relieve a little bit of stress from Michael so he can focus on getting better!!