Funeral & medical costs for Mary Ruth Busch (Opat)

On behalf of Mary’s oldest daughter, Jen:

Many of you knew our beloved mother, grandmother and great grandmother, Mary Busch (Opat). Many may not know though, that from a very young age mom faced many challenges. At the age of one, she was diagnosed with polio. The years that followed would bring many experimental treatments that ultimately would result in mom losing the use of her left arm and causing everything on the left side of her body to be weaker than her right side. Throughout adulthood, mom had various surgeries and broken bones even before her post-polio symptoms began to set in. With the post-polio mom began to experience pain on a regular basis. To help with the constant pain, mom started seeing a pain management specialist. He placed a spinal cord stimulator in her back that would help with the pain. After one attempt at replacing the components of her stimulator caused her to become hospitalized and extremely ill, she was no longer a candidate for a new stimulator and had to be changed to a pain pump. In addition to the pain, mom also began to get muscle weakness which caused her to lose her balance and fall quite often. She ended up breaking her same arm a few times and scalping herself when she fell in the bathroom one night. Her neck finally got so weak on one side that she had difficulty holding her head up, so she would just keep it laying on her shoulder. As if these changes were not enough, several years ago mom started hearing and seeing things that the rest of us couldn’t. Dad took her to several doctors and had a few ER visits at first, hoping that this was just the result of one of the many medications that she took daily for all her health issues, or a virus. Finally, three years ago she was diagnosed at the KU Med center with Lewy Body Dementia. The doctors gave her 4-6 years to live. As each year passed, her symptoms progressed, making many days very difficult for her and for our dad, Jody Busch. Dad has taken care of mom for the 52 years they have been together, but with all the changes in the last few years he had become a full-time caregiver. Taking care of the entire household, while also taking great care of our mom even when it was extremely hard at times, and rarely asking for help. For mom’s safety she had to be with someone 24/7 and that someone was always dad. Dad had an unfortunate fall last October and fractured his pelvis and destroyed the rotator cuff in his right shoulder, putting him in the hospital for several days. After he was released, he was unable to leave the house for a couple of months and had to do in home physical therapy. It was during this time that he needed help, that all of us kids learned just how much dad had been doing for mom and that some days were not easy. On Friday, March 15, 2024, dad awoke as he did any other day and thought mom was still sleeping. It wasn’t until he walked around to her side of the bed that he realized something was very wrong. Mom was rushed to the hospital where they took life saving measures only to find out that she had a massive stroke and wouldn’t survive. Mom died later that day at the age of 69. It has been tough losing our mom/grandma/great grandma, but not as tough as it has been for dad losing his best friend and the love of his life after 52 years. Along with having to face this extraordinary loss, dad will also have to face all the medical bills and funeral bill that will be coming his way. With a very fixed income that will now become even smaller with the passing of my mom, we would like to ask for any support that you can give to dad at this difficult time. We know that the compounding medical bills for the last several years coupled with those coming soon will be another burden that we don’t want to see dad face alone. We also wanted dad to be able to give mom the Christian burial that she always wanted since it would be the last thing, he’d ever be able to do for her. Dad has always been a proud man, never asking anyone for anything, so we will ask for him. For those of you that have helped already and for those that can help now with a donation, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts and feel truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends and a loving community. God bless you all.