Mike Melley and Family Medical Treatment Funds

After some serious consideration, my family has decided to launch this page in an effort to keep everyone updated regarding dad's medical status and to allow those who have asked how they can help, an avenue to do so. I write this from my perspective for ease of reading, but trust that I speak on behalf of my family as a whole.

Unfortunately this begins like so many other stories we've heard in the last year. My Dad tested positive for Covid around December 5th. Being who he is, he stayed home abiding by the isolation rules and assured us all that he was doing okay and just pushing forward day by day. On December 20th, we all had a hunch that led me to check in on him in person which resulted in him being transported via ambulance to OSF. The subsequent 4.5 hours were the longest of my life waiting for an update. He had arrived to OSF in severe respiratory distress with rapidly deteriorating lung function, severe pneumonia, blood clots in his right leg and blood clots in his lungs. He was quickly transferred to the medical ICU and intubated.

As I sit here and write this, a week has passed, Christmas has come and gone and his birthday is approaching. He is still in the MICU on a vent and though he is taking small steps in the right direction, those are often followed with the "one step back." I have pages of nurse and doctor updates that fill a 5 subject notebook, but what they all amount to is that we are in this for the long haul. My dad is tough and he is fiercely stubborn. We remain cautiously optimistic that he will continue slowly trending in the right direction and come back home - his kids miss him, his grand kids miss him, and it's just been hard.

Aside from the emotional turmoil and the ups and downs that Covid patient updates bring, we are navigating the financial turmoil as well. Bills still have to get paid and medical expenses are adding up with no end in site. Whether you're here to check in and offer well wishes and positive vibes and/or contributing financially, thank you. Thank you a thousand times over. We appreciate you all more than we could ever put into words.

Updates will be sporadic and may not be dense. We are still trying to accept our new reality and while we understand that he has so many others cheering him on that want to know how he is doing, we are trying to respect the varying levels of privacy that others in the family want to maintain as we each try to digest information and move forward at our own pace.

Lastly, if you are reading this and you work in the medical field, we support you and we deeply, deeply, appreciate you.