Michal Aylward

When I was ten years old, I wasn't exactly the pillar of popularity. I was shy, quiet, and riddled with the early onset of an anxiety disorder. I spent many recesses alone, wandering the playground, counting down the hours till I could go home. I did this for the first month of 4th grade until another student graciously joined me. That person was Thomas Aylward. Tom and I spent every recess from that point on walking the playground, talking about The Simpsons, and arguing over the best Mcdonald's breakfast item, which for the record, is the Sausage McMuffin with Egg. At the time, our conversations were simple and worry-free but have stuck with me some 22 years later.

Over the years, Tom has taught me many things about friendship, compassion, morality, and what It means to be a truly caring individual. For those who don't know Tom, he is the kind of person who will do anything to support the people he loves. So much so that in 2014 after tirelessly making a name for himself in the indie film world, Tom put his career on hold to help his mother, Jeannie, take care of his father, Michael

Michael was diagnosed with Multifocal Motor Neuropathy (MMN - a condition in which the immune system begins attacking the nerve endings in the arms and legs). This was after noticing an abnormal weakness in his right arm in late 2013. By 2015 this had progressed to both arms and legs, rendering him quadriplegic. This state brought forth a cascading atrophy of his accessory respiratory muscles (as well as many others), which caused an aspiration incident in 2019, which required a tracheotomy (and feeding tube). While this then meant he was approved for in-home nursing care, the Covid-19 pandemic upended this, leaving much of this highly skilled care in the hands of Jeannie and Tom. Many days Tom would work double shifts only to be briefly relieved by Jeannie once she finished her work day. In mid-2021, Micheal was brought into the hospital after a cardiac event. He would go on from there to several other facilities over the next eight months, during which he experienced several more cardiac events and other organ failures until his death on January 11th, 2022

For seven years, Tom was his father's caretaker. He worked unforgiving hours where night shifts bled into day shifts due to last-minute nursing call-offs, never knowing how his father's condition would present on a given day. Despite the long hours, social isolation, and the continuous frustration brought upon by the ever-changing home health care system, Tom never wavered. Through the many conversations we've shared over the last several years, he never once voiced a single regret in coming home to support his father and mother, simply because it was the right thing to do.

This GoFundMe page is dedicated to supporting Tom and Jeannie. The last seven years have resulted in a mountain of medical bills, deferred student loans, and housing payments. Any money raised will be split between the two of them. Moving on after a tragedy is never a simple endeavor, but hopefully, the money raised for them will reduce one of the many stressors they carry.