My name is Jenna. I am setting up this go fund me account on behalf of my uncle, Ralston and my aunt, Jana. These two hold a very dear place in my heart and they need some help. Ralston and Jana are strong, kind, caring, Jesus loving people. They are always graciously there for others and would give anyone any kind of help possible. Years ago, they lovingly opened up their home to me and have offered more help to my family since! That is just a small piece to show how big their hearts truly are. While I’m unable to directly help in any big way, as distance separates us, I was hoping that we could all unite and help them out.

Ralston has been fighting with a lot of health issues. He is diabetic and diabetic neuropathy set in several year ago, along with heart/kidney issues. He is maintaining as best he can in these areas. He is a survivor of 3 pulmonary embolisms, he’s had 2 strokes, a double adrenal gland hemorrhage and has developed fluid around his heart! This man perseveres through for his family!

The biggest obstacle in recent years is infection. In 2018 he started struggling with infections in his fingers which got into the bone. He became septic on several different occasions resulting in more surgeries to remove the infected bone. So far, he’s underwent 10 finger amputations to remove infected bone. There doesn’t appear to be an end in sight for this. Physicians have been trying to figure out how to best treat him and he’s had multiple hospital stays due to these infections/amputations. Most recently, he and Jana had to fly to Washington DC to have days of testing completed in an effort to get long awaited answers- which ultimately ended up being unsuccessful in terms of finding solutions to help him long term. Basically, his body will continue to get these infections and since his body struggles to fight the infection off, it typically means a hospital stay and a lot of antibiotics to follow.

To complicate matters a little more, Ralston owns and operates a local landscaping business in north east Arkansas. He started that business to care for his own family in 1998 and built it up to what it has become today. However, with all the medical issues he has been faced with, he and my aunt have had a huge increase in medical bills, and with several hospital stays and the continued risk of more infection, he’s unable to do as much. His inability to work the long hours required of this landscaping business has caused, not only the loss of income, but a loss of business in general. It has been a huge financial hardship for them. My aunt cares for him and she often has to take time away from work to assist and be by his side. A true testament to love and commitment! He’s also in his very early 60’s so he doesn’t qualify for Medicaid either. So all the out of pocket expenses are racking up. We hope you the everyone’s generosity, that we are able to decrease that debt and give him a little less stress!

The bottom line is that they are in need of a little extra help and they are not the type of people to ask anyone for help- no matter how badly they may need it. I know how the love and care from our surrounding communities can uplift us in hard times. God willing, we can make a difference and give something back to two wonderful people! From the very bottom of my heart, I cannot thank you all enough for assisting in supporting them! God bless each of you for reading this, sharing it, donating, praying, etc. It means so much to me AND it really will for them.