#MulletStrong

To know Terry and Brittany is to know two of the most selfless people in the world.  They never ask for help but are always there to lend a helping hand whenever anyone is in trouble or in need. So many people have shared their amazing stories of how this family has gone above and beyond for them in their time of need. It is now our turn to go above and beyond for this family at their time of need. 

Please read the latest on Terry’s status as of today written by his wife Brittany:
”On November 2nd 2019 my husband Terry, daughter Gracelyn and myself went to get family photos taken for our Christmas cards and then dropped Gracie off at her grandparents for the night and Terry and myself went to a gathering for his softball team, mom and dads night out! Around 9pm Terry said he wasn’t feeling well and he was just going to go watch TV, this was a bit odd to me so I told him let’s just go home. We got home and Terry started vomiting and seemed to be running a fever. I thought this was a case of the flu so I gave him Tylenol and tried to get him comfortable so he could rest. All day Sunday he was on the couch, again all symptoms pointed at the flu so I kept him hydrated and gave him chicken broth. Sunday night we went to bed around 10:30pm and Terry said he was going to sleep in the living room so he could sit up in the recliner because he felt a bit stuffy. Again nothing in my mind pointed at anything other than the flu, I did tell him if he wasn’t feeling well in the morning he should go in. Little did I know at 1:30am when Terry woke me up our lives would be changing forever.

Terry turned on the bedroom light and tapped me to wake me up. I heard him say my stomach is just really hurting. As I rolled over my stomach dropped and I saw the purple almost bruising all over his face. I jumped up and noticed it was on his arms and abdomen and he was so cold to touch. At that moment I knew something was wrong. We called his mom to come over to stay with Gracie so I could take Terry to the ER.

As we arrived at the ER in South Bend Terry was taken back right away, as they frantically asked questions, checked vitals and tried to figure out what was wrong with my husband as the purple kept spreading. His blood pressure was so low 90/40 (not exact but something along those lines) and heart rate was over 200. His skin was freezing to the touch but his temperature was 103 and rising. He got moved up to ICU and at that moment I knew my husband was very sick. Terry was airlifted to IU Health in Indy on Tuesday morning around 3am.

After many test and blood cultures they determined he was infected with the Strep Pneumoniae bacteria. Terry had leukemia as a child and lost his spleen. With no spleen he was unable to fight off this bacteria and in someone with a spleen would have resulted in pneumonia but Terry went septic. His liver and kidney has failed and his heart wasn’t far behind.

Terry’s skin started to blister due to swelling and the bacteria through his skin. They had to go in for a fasciotomy on Thursday November 7th because his muscles were restricted and starting to die. With Terry being stable they determined moving him to the Burn Unit at Eskenazi Hospital would be his best bet for recovery. So on Friday evening November 8th Terry was transported to his 3rd hospital.

Jumping to right now December 2nd he has undergone 6 surgeries at this point and still has many more to go. They have to go into every wound and clean them out until they find healthy tissue. On November 27th while in surgery he lost his toes and part of both feet looking for healthy tissue and were unable to find any. Terry will have both legs amputated to right under the knee. They are very concerned about his right arm and believe amputation will take place also but we are getting a few other opinions on the arms. With the feet you could unfortunately look at them and see they are dead.

Terry is so strong, loving and just full of life. I don’t want this to slow him down and I know it won’t. Pray for recovery and for that moment he gets to see his little girl again. This is going to be a very long road but as i have said to everyone thank god we are planning for prosthetics and not a funeral.” 
-Brittany 02Dec19

Please help us in doing all that we can to make this extremely difficult time for this family a little easier. 

Jen and I will match the 2.9% GoFundMe transaction fee, ensuring that Terry, Brittany and Gracie get your full donation.

Thank you, 
The Petzke’s 

***Mike Unger (Brittany Szczechowski’s father) will be the beneficiary***
Feel free to email me with any questions.