Frank's Stroke Fund

My husband and I have always considered ourselves independent.  We always believed as long as we had each other, all would be well. We did everything together: boating, four wheeling, snowmobiling, camping, etc. all of the things that make life worth it.  Once our son came along, he would join us on our adventures.  When we hit 40, the adventures never really stopped...
Until December 27th, 2015 when, at the age of 42 and very unexpectedly, my husband Frank suffered a massive stroke as a result of high blood pressure. Now he had taken his medications religiously for the last several years but so it seemed, the regiment needed to be changed.  He was in Neuroscience Intensive Care for over two weeks, where doctors fought to gain control of his fluctuating blood pressure, body temperature and bleeding from the stroke.  The bleeding and swelling was in the right frontal lobe of Frank’s brain, which seemed to fuel all the other complications. Of course through all this, he was in a medically induced coma and on life support.  He remained on a respirator and then inevitably, on January 14, he needed to have a tracheotomy as well as feeding tube inserted into his stomach. A day or so afterwards, they moved him to the next step down but he was there less than 48 hours when a major infection overcame him and thus, put all progress back. He was transferred back to a Medical Intensive Care unit where he remained nearly a week as they battled the infection.  All this while, Frank was fighting to wake up and soon became aware what happened to him as we were able to speak with him at that point.  From there, he was well enough to now go a step down from intensive care where they would work with him to get him off the trach and start with some physical and Occupational Therapy.  It was successful and Frank began to show improvement.  After nearly two and half weeks, he was finally transferred to a full rehabilitation facility where he still is currently.  He is making amazing progress but it is slow and has been quite hard on the family.  His cognitive, thinking process and speech are returning but slowly.  According to the doctors, as the swelling and bleeding from the stroke continue to recede, those things should come back. 

Our family, friends have been there for us every day holding us in their prayers and vigilance.  At this point, prayers still continue as initially we were told he would not get much mobility back on the left side.  However, Frank has shown amazing resilience and determination and I’m happy to say he has gained a lot back but to what extent we do not know yet. 

As you can imagine the financial situation of maintaining our household has taken a major hit as he provided half of our mutual income.  Frank could potentially be unable to work up to a year or worse pending on how much mobility and cognitive ability is able to come back.  I am faced with medical bills that I am having a tough time making.  Additionally, because we have to prepare incase Frank does not get more mobility back; we will need to outfit our home to better accommodate him.  The most pressing is the bathroom.  If he were to come home now, because of the small size and layout, he would not be able to use the toilet nor could he take a shower.  Two daily feats many of us are able to do without issue. 

I’m asking for any support you may be able to provide with the mounting medical bills and the much needed remodel of bathroom to accommodate his injuries/disability; even if nothing more than a prayer… Thank you and God bless.