Lend a hand for Larry

Hello! My name is Erin, and I have created this fundraiser for my dad, Larry Magoon. During this past holiday season, he began having increasingly debilitating pain in his lower back and his doctors began discussing a spinal fusion surgery. Not convinced that they had found the whole source of his recent struggles, his wife Sylvia convinced him to get a physical done to double-check that his overall health was being appropriately managed. His lab results came back and we learned that he was in kidney failure.

He was immediately admitted to Manchester Memorial Hospital on January 4, 2023. After extensive testing, they diagnosed dad with eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis, an extremely rare disease (only 2 to 5 new cases per year per 1 million people) caused by swelling in certain cells in your body. It can cause injuries to various systems including lungs, nose, sinuses, skin, joints, nerves, intestinal tract, heart and/or kidneys and rarely the brain.

With dad, it shut down his kidneys; hard and fast. He experienced a very rapid decline while the medical team scrambled to treat the disease and manage the symptoms caused by his kidneys shutting down. He was placed on dialysis three times per week and was told only time would tell if his kidneys would regain function or if dialysis would become a more permanent feature of his life.

On February 21, 2023, he was deemed medically stable by the hospital staff and transferred to Heritage Hall South in Agawam for physical rehabilitation. He had lost an extreme amount of muscle mass during his time in the hospital (7 weeks), and still had a long road ahead.

As of March 13, 2023, his insurance has made the decision to switch him to private pay, a whopping $464/day charge! We are looking into options to see what our best choice will be moving forward, but it has become clear that there will be out of pocket expenses to manage. Both Larry and his family are thrilled to see him recovering from this abrupt setback, but recovery does not happen overnight… especially at 77 years young!

Hopefully, removing the stress of growing medical bills will allow him to focus more on his recovery and getting back home again. He has had an impact on so many lives throughout his life and we often joke that there is nowhere one can go to escape his reach. We are now hoping that reach can help us pull off a miracle and erase the financial burden that has come with this devastating diagnosis. We thank you for any support you are able to provide be it financial contributions or simply sharing this fundraiser to expand our reach even further.