I’ve started this GoFundMe campaign to support my cousin Suzy Piepgras and her husband, Mike Stark, due to Mike’s serious battle with Crohn’s disease. Mike’s journey with this disease, as he tells it, is below.

Due to this Crohn’s flare, Mike’s digestive system is not functioning, he has lost over 65 pounds, and his body is not able to get the nutrients it needs. A month ago he begun a no food regime to help him heal. He can only drink a specific nutritional shake, several times a day, for approximately the next five months. These shakes are not covered by insurance and cost approximately $50 per day. Mike also recently began the last Crohn’s medication that is available to him. The hope with all of this is to heal his body enough so he won’t need surgery, but a month ago doctors thought an extensive surgery was inevitable. Now, the plan is to wait and see if his body improves over time.

We, as a community of family and friends, can help ease the added financial stress for Mike and Suzy due to the daily cost of the shakes and the other doctor and healing appointments that are not covered by insurance. Additionally, if Mike does need surgery, he will need to take time off of work and although he could apply for short term disability, that only covers half of his salary.

Any donation would help reduce the added stress to their lives and it will be used in the best possible way to help support Mike’s healing. Thank you for your support.

Please follow Mike’s Caringbridge Site at StarkStrong.

Amy Rimington


Mike’s story in his words:

It started 18 years ago, at the age of 28. I got diarrhea that day, and it continued, every day, for the next year and a half. My Crohn’s disease had flipped on like a light switch. Over the next 18 months, I lost 60 pounds, suffered from constant fatigue and had painful bloating most of the time. Living with this disease has been like riding a roller coaster, with many ups and downs, and twists and turns.

In those first years, I was on several medications, had two surgeries, emergency room visits and too many colonoscopies to count. Then, I was in “Deep Remission” for about four years. But 20 months ago, new symptoms that I have never experienced before began to surface. My lower lip had swelled so big, and I had mouth sores so significant, that it was incredibly painful to eat. And after several tests, and many doctor visits, it was determined that this was my Crohn’s disease rearing its ugly head again, but now in a different way.

With this Crohn’s flare, I have lost over 65 pounds, have bouts of diarrhea, experience bloating and cramping and days where I have significant fatigue. Recently, I tried several new medications, but they didn’t help as much as we were hoping. I recently began the last FDA approved medication available to me, with doctors saying there is about a 20 percent chance it will work with my type of Crohn’s. The next option may be surgery, but a month ago, doctors told me it was too risky. So now the hope is with the combination of the recent medication and only drinking the shakes, that I can get my intestines well enough so I can safely go back to eating food or have the surgery. Whichever path I take, I’m determined to get back to health.