LOUIE'S MEDICAL EXPENSES, SCOOTER FUND
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Louie Ennis grew up in Wall Township, NJ and has been a resident of Toms River for the past 22 years. He has worked hard his whole life along with his wife Sandi to help support his family of 6. Until recently he worked as an A Tech body man at a local East Coast Auto Body in Neptune. Also working a second job as a Security Supervisor at Six Flags GA. The past five years he has worked 60-80 hours per week. Some people would think it’s for the money but for Louie it was simply because he loved his jobs so much! ((almost overnight Louie and his family’s lives were turned upside down by a medical incident that led him to be completely handicapped.))
On February 6th 2018 Louie had neck surgery to improve upon a previous surgery from 17 years ago which repaired damage to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th vertebrae in his spine (near his neck), as well as to fix recent herniation in his 4th and 5th vertebrae.
The plan? To relieve extreme migraines and pain in his neck.
The outcome? What should have been a 3 hour surgery turned out to be 7 hours. What would have been a next day discharge turned into a multiple night stay while they try to solve the mystery of what happened to him, and then shuffling him between different Rehab centers across the state. Within 24 hours of surgery, Louie developed severe symptoms which mimicked a stroke including drooping left eyelid, stuttering and hoarse voice, pain and weakness in his left arm and continuing down to his left leg with severe drop foot meaning he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t even eat because food was going into his lungs when he swallowed, which was then discovered that he had a paralyzed vocal cord and epiglottis. With that is was determined that he would have to get a feeding tube. Over the next few weeks, multiple MRI’s and CAT scans were done, all of them ruling out a stroke. And as if the immediate symptoms weren’t enough, eventually the numbness and weakness from his left side spread to both sides from his waist down, meaning Louie had no use of either of his legs along with other major medical issues.
Louie spent the next 5 months mostly in the hospital and periodically spending time in two different rehabilitation centers where they tried to teach him how to walk, worked on swallowing, tried to build up his strength, and taught him how to live with this new and sudden disability. It was at this point he realized he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Sandi has actually torn the rotator cuff in her shoulder from having to lift the wheelchair in and out of their SUV. This means that now SHE will have to have surgery as well, and even more so contribute to their loss of income.
With still no answers as to what happened during the surgery that made Louie severely disabled, The sudden loss in income and having to rely on SSD, along with the almost depletion of their retirement savings acct Louie, Sandi, and their children have been struggling immensely. Anyone who knows Louie and Sandi knows they would do anything in their power to help others in need, so it is very difficult for them to ask for help.
We are asking for donations to help get Louie a scooter and a lift for the back of their SUV (although eventually he would like to get a handicap van). We would also like to fix the house up for them to make it more handicap friendly, as they have 2 sets of stairs with necessities spread throughout both floors. They were given a stair lift that is not working so it needs to be fixed. We would also like to help him with his specialty food for the feeding tube. Also extreme medical bills are piling up and they need HELP!
Louie also loves to receive mail so If anyone would like to send him cards or anything please feel free to reach out to me.
On February 6th 2018 Louie had neck surgery to improve upon a previous surgery from 17 years ago which repaired damage to the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th vertebrae in his spine (near his neck), as well as to fix recent herniation in his 4th and 5th vertebrae.
The plan? To relieve extreme migraines and pain in his neck.
The outcome? What should have been a 3 hour surgery turned out to be 7 hours. What would have been a next day discharge turned into a multiple night stay while they try to solve the mystery of what happened to him, and then shuffling him between different Rehab centers across the state. Within 24 hours of surgery, Louie developed severe symptoms which mimicked a stroke including drooping left eyelid, stuttering and hoarse voice, pain and weakness in his left arm and continuing down to his left leg with severe drop foot meaning he couldn’t walk. He couldn’t even eat because food was going into his lungs when he swallowed, which was then discovered that he had a paralyzed vocal cord and epiglottis. With that is was determined that he would have to get a feeding tube. Over the next few weeks, multiple MRI’s and CAT scans were done, all of them ruling out a stroke. And as if the immediate symptoms weren’t enough, eventually the numbness and weakness from his left side spread to both sides from his waist down, meaning Louie had no use of either of his legs along with other major medical issues.
Louie spent the next 5 months mostly in the hospital and periodically spending time in two different rehabilitation centers where they tried to teach him how to walk, worked on swallowing, tried to build up his strength, and taught him how to live with this new and sudden disability. It was at this point he realized he would be in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. Sandi has actually torn the rotator cuff in her shoulder from having to lift the wheelchair in and out of their SUV. This means that now SHE will have to have surgery as well, and even more so contribute to their loss of income.
With still no answers as to what happened during the surgery that made Louie severely disabled, The sudden loss in income and having to rely on SSD, along with the almost depletion of their retirement savings acct Louie, Sandi, and their children have been struggling immensely. Anyone who knows Louie and Sandi knows they would do anything in their power to help others in need, so it is very difficult for them to ask for help.
We are asking for donations to help get Louie a scooter and a lift for the back of their SUV (although eventually he would like to get a handicap van). We would also like to fix the house up for them to make it more handicap friendly, as they have 2 sets of stairs with necessities spread throughout both floors. They were given a stair lift that is not working so it needs to be fixed. We would also like to help him with his specialty food for the feeding tube. Also extreme medical bills are piling up and they need HELP!
Louie also loves to receive mail so If anyone would like to send him cards or anything please feel free to reach out to me.
Co-organizers (4)
Wendy Ennis Petillo
Organizer
Toms River, NJ
Frank E. Huscha
Co-organizer
Louie Ennis
Co-organizer
Kimberlee Petillo
Co-organizer