Funeral fund for Mike, rare

This is my Uncle Michael, or “Big Mike” as many knew him, with his beautiful daughter enjoying one last outing before the inevitable.

His terrible journey started 3 years ago at a young age of 59. One morning his sister noticed his speech sounded a little slurred, almost like someone who just had a stroke. Not long after, his wife noticed some mood changes, followed by few abnormalities to his usual personality. As a concerned family, his wife and kids insisted on him getting checked out.

CT after CT, followed by many, many specialist appointments and hospital visits, doctors could identity abnormal brain activity, but could not with definite diagnosis tell him what was happening. As time passed, and many more tests and appointments took place, the medical team was starting to suspect a form of Dementia. However, his symptoms and body function deteriorated in a way that it could not all have been as a result of Dementia. Hence… more tests and visits to hospitals. In the meantime, uncle Michael was no longer capable of communicating verbally, and started using a pad to write instead of talking. His eye vision weakened, and use of his arms and legs became limited.

At this point he was given a second diagnosis which is Corticobasal Degeneration (A rare disease in which areas of the brain shrink and the nerve cells degenerate and die over time). This was definitely not the news the family wanted to hear. His physical ability deteriorated even further very quickly. As the symptoms of this rare and slow killer disease took hold of Michael, he developed Dysphagia (Swallowing becomes impossible) which caused him to end up in hospital on many occasions with Pneumonia. After being diagnosed with Corticobasal, he was given between 3-7 years to live. Unfortunately, as this disease is very rare, there’s not enough research or knowledge in the medical field for patients and their families. He passed away yesterday 15/12/21 only 2 years after being diagnosed.

During the period of diagnosis, his business partner took advantage of his slowed thinking capacity, taking complete control of the business, and in doing so, depleting all of uncle Michael’s accounts and assets, to the point where he was left with nothing to his name, and nothing to show for the business he had spent 30 years building.

Fair to say, the countless medical bills, along with being forced to shut down the family business, has left uncle Michael’s family in financial and emotional distress.

Michael held a bachelor or engineering and has run his own building company for past 30 odd years. Not only was this man intelligent, he was the one person in the extended family that everyone could count on without fail.

Any help given will go a long way in giving his family a sense of humanity after the hardship they were forced to face for the abovementioned reasons by paying for the funeral. Surplus funds will help with research for this disease. Thank you in advance and God Bless !!

Funeral to be held 21/12/2021