Help Paul and Laura Halacy with medical expenses

Our mother was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2005. Multiple Sclerosis is defined as "a disease in which the immune system eats away at the protective covering of nerves. In MS, resulting nerve damage disrupts communication between the brain and the body. Multiple sclerosis causes many different symptoms, including vision loss, pain, fatigue, and impaired coordination. The symptoms, severity, and duration can vary from person to person. Some people may be symptom free most of their lives, while others can have severe chronic symptoms that never go away."

For more than a decade, our mother's disease has been stable, for the most part. She experienced a few flare ups here and there, but some were enough for a brief hospital stay. The tricky thing with MS is that you appear typical to the general public. You seem fine on the outside...until you don't.

Around the middle of January this year, she began experiencing more frequent issues, with her walking specifically. January 19, after an appointment in which her neurologist told her to contact him in a month about any changes, or lack thereof, she fell on their front steps that afternoon, unable to lift her foot enough to clear the step.

A week and a half later, still feeling weak, she fell again. She and our father saw her PC later that day and after a few hours, and a call to her neurologist, they scheduled 2-hr long steroid infusion treatments 3x that week. Between that and antibiotics for a UTI (thank you again, MS), we were hopeful to see some improvement by the end of the week. Unfortunately, by the end of the week, absolutely no improvement was seen. Mom left a message with her neurologist that Sunday and he called her back immediately.

She saw him the next day, February 6. After talking with him, he sent her to Milford Hospital. She waited 11 hours for a room, getting an MRI and CAT scan, beside the typical other blood work, etc. When the radiologist saw my mom's MRI, she called the hospital neurologist at home because of what she saw. It was lit up like a Christmas tree.

Between an MRI about a year ago and the one she had Feb. 6, A LOT of damage has been done, i.e. a LARGE area of the right side of her brain has been severely damaged (lesion(s)). She was (thankfully) transferred to Whittier Rehabilitation the next day. Unfortunately, mom has lost pretty much the use of the entire left side of her body, as if she's had a stroke, as a result of the damage caused by her MS. Her neurologist is working on getting her onto a different medication (that she prayerfully won't have a negative reaction to) and she is receiving OT and PT 6x/week. She will potentially regain a lot of her strength, but her mobility will never be the same.

Our parents have yet to receive the anticipated medical bills, and they will either need to move to a one-level home or make significant changes to their current home. Unfortunately, with our parents both retired, finances are quite tight.

We are starting this GoFundMe to help in any way we can. Thank you for your prayers and support.

-Liz LaRosa and Brian Halacy