Hi, my name is Marissa. Myself and my family are fundraising for Michael McLaughlin.

Michael plays many roles in this life; these are just a few of his favorites: Husband, Dad, Stepdad, Papa, and Friend!

In December of 2023, Mike went into surgery for a hip replacement. In January of 2024, Mike ended up with an infection from the hip replacement and was hospitalized for about a week. Mike came home with a PICC line for his wife Penny to administer antibiotics. One month later, he ended up having an extremely rare reaction. He now has bilateral lung disease, which was caused by the antibiotic prescribed to fight the infection. He was in Glens Falls Hospital for over a month with little improvement. On March 24th, Mike was transferred to Albany Med Hospital for further consultation and a biopsy. Michael returned home and has been on oxygen for an extensive amount of time now.

In the past few weeks, Mike's breathing has become extremely difficult. His wife Penny decided he needed to go back to Albany Med. His lung doctor did a CAT scan of his lungs, and it showed severe progression (not in a good way). On top of an infection he now has, he has very little lung capacity left. The doctor has him on several IV antibiotics trying to fight this infection and has now decided that his lung transplant will need to be done sooner rather than later. He will be transferred to a hospital in New York City within the next few days, get some further testing done, and then wait for his new set of lungs.

As you may guess, this was very sudden for our family, and his wife Penny will need to be out of work and will be doing a lot of traveling back and forth until the lung transplant happens. Once Mike gets his transplant, his wife Penny will be his support person and will need to stay in the city for an extended period of time (probably a month or more), which will be extremely expensive! Our family is asking for your help during this difficult time both emotionally and financially. Thank you for your time reading this long journey we've been on. This will be a long road for Mike, but we are excited for him to be able to live a more normal life and do his favorite things with his family! We appreciate your donations and support; it means more than you know!