Hi, my name is Caitlin and I'm Michael's older sister. We're fundraising money to help cover the cost of Michael's medical bills and regular bills since we aren't sure how long of a recovery Michael has ahead of him.

 

On Thursday night (9/9), William (our youngest brother) noticed that Mike was not acting like himself. That night when the family asked if he was okay, he was having trouble speaking and they decided to take him to the ER at Martin North. After having a CT scan they found a mass on the left side of his brain and transferred him to Tradition Medical Center.

 

After getting an MRI they were able to determine that he had a large left basal ganglia abscess that measured 4.4cm x 4.1cm x 3.4 cm (about the size of a walnut). The bacteria that caused the abscess had entered through his sinuses from a toothache that turned into a sinus infection.

 

The neurosurgeon was able to do a biopsy of the infected area of the brain. The neurosurgeon was able to flush and clean out the pus from the abscess and applied topical antibiotic along with IV antibiotics. With such a big abscess, there was a large amount of swelling in his brain and initially caused a loss of a lot of functions.

 

For the first few days, Michael was unable to talk or communicate and his motor skills were extremely limited. After about 5-6 days post op was the first time we heard him say 'hi' and every day he is progressing a little more and we hear positive news.

 

We are fully confident that Michael is going to make a full recovery although we are unsure how long it will be until he's back to 100%. Luckily he has been accepted into an amazing rehab facility where hopefully soon he will be able to progress even further!

 

We want to thank everyone who has reached out to us during this difficult time, knowing how strong Michael is and how far he has come in such a short time has us so hopeful that he will be back to his normal self soon and making more music. In the meantime since we are unsure how long it will be before he can get back to work we welcome any donation you can to help cover existing bills and upcoming medical bills. Anything you can donate is greatly appreciated! We will do our best to post all the updates on his progress through this page as well.

 

Thank you for keeping Michael in your thoughts, we can't wait until he can be home with us again!