Jody has been battling health issues for most of her adult life. After months of dialysis, Jody had a kidney transplant back in November of 1996. She was just 25 years old. Little did she know that her health issues were just beginning.

Since then, Jody has endured 15 joint-related replacements, revisions, decompressions, and dislocations. Multiple procedures on both hips, both knees, and both shoulders. Turns out, the medication Jody needs as a result of her kidney replacement attacks her bones, causing irreparable damage to her joints as well as early-onset osteoporosis. It has always seemed that, for Jody, hospitals were a revolving door.

Through all the challenges, Mike, her husband, has been ever at her side. Knowledge of her diagnoses and constant support has been his mission. No one I know (save those employed in the medical industry) knows more about hospital procedures than Mike.

It was a lot to bear, but they did it together along with their son Ryan. Life seemed to take on, for them, a normal routine of surgeries and new medical cocktails every few years or so. Looking back, I’m sure it seems almost comforting by comparison.

Fast forward to 2018. Jody began experiencing a variety of unexplained issues with her digestive system and had her first procedure in this category: placement of a stent in her common bile duct. Again, as had been her experience with the kidney transplant, this single procedure seemed to set off a series of events that no one could have foreseen.

In the year following the bile duct surgery in March 2018, Mike and Jody were admitted to the hospital 24 times and have gone through two series of home infusion antibiotics in an attempt to fight off a mysterious infection that appears to have taken hold somewhere in Jody’s body. Pancreatitis, gallbladder removal, laparotomy, Roux-en-Y choledochojejunostomy, colonoscopy, multiple ERCP placements and removals of stents in the common bile duct and pancreas. The list goes on and on. Even so, Jody is a fighter and continues to celebrate life through it all.

Autumn 2019, Jody had yet another major surgery to re-route a portion of her small intestines in an effort to defeat the infection. On November 26, 2019 - Jody’s birthday - they learned that the surgery had been unsuccessful.

And so the battle continues. For the past 5 years, Mike and Jody, along with their doctors, have been waging what is best described as a very serious game of hide and go seek as they continue to search for the source of the infection and remove it. It is impossible to quantify the toll this new health battle has taken. Both Mike and Jody have been off work—either in surgery, recovering from surgery, or simply too ill to work—for the better part of the last year.

UPDATE: In December 2024, the infection got the upper hand, landing Jody in the ICU for two weeks where she was quite literally fighting for her life. She was lucky to survive this last episode and has a long road ahead to resume some semblance of normalcy. While Mike and Jody have the support of their friends and family, what they need now is financial support to help lighten their load.

We created this fund to help Mike and Jody with the mountain of medical bills and other expenses they have accumulated—and continue to accumulate—as they navigate through this time. We would also like to use this space for people to communicate with Mike and Jody and raise their spirits. Many people have expressed wanting to donate or help in some way. If this is the avenue you choose to help, thank you. And thank you for all the love, support, and prayers! They are greatly appreciated and sorely needed.