Mike and April Rodriguez

Hi, my name is Heather and I am starting this for my little sister April, her husband Mike and their seven month old daughter Lucy.

In the beginning of this year Mike got sick. It started as body aches, headaches, fever, and dizziness. It rapidly progressed to double vision, balance issues, extreme fatigue, extreme weight loss, ect.. When they went to the doctor the first indications were that Mike had a stroke so they started therapy. Mike got no better and just continued to decline. A couple of weeks ago they redid the scans and discovered a tumor on Mike’s brain stem, it is inoperable. He also has lesions on his lungs and liver. He was admitted to the hospital last week Thursday for a biopsy, but had too much swelling on his brain so they were unable to do it. He has been in ICU ever since. He was in a coma for a couple of days, but he has since woken up. The tumor continues to grow rapidly had doubled in size over the last week. We pray that Mike will be able to come home to his wife and little daughter, but it doesn’t look very promising right now.

Mike has been off of work since February, and my sister has used up all of her PTO through her work and is now on unpaid leave. So they have very little money coming in. Lucy still needs diapers and formula. April drives to the hospital every day and stays during ICU visiting hours. She hasn’t seen the bills for the hospital yet, but I am sure she won’t be saying “Wow that’s cheap.” We are helping all we can, but she could really use some more. What they most need is for Mike (husband/daddy) to come home. I can’t give them that, not sure that anyone can. I am hoping I can help raise some money for diapers, food, gas, bills, so she doesn’t have to worry excessively about that on top of everything else., Any amount will help. Thank you for taking the time to read our story. Will accept all of the prayers you can send also