This is Nick. He's a husband, a dad to two little girls — a 4-year-old and a 6-month-old — and right now, he's fighting for his life.

After years of being told his symptoms were unexplained fatigue and anxiety, Nick was finally diagnosed with documented adrenal insufficiency. His body has stopped producing cortisol, the chemical that keeps a person alive. Without daily replacement medication, this condition is fatal. The diagnosis came after multiple lab tests confirmed the worst: undetectable ACTH on two separate systems, a failed cosyntropin stimulation test, cortisol below range, and a QTc of 573ms — fatal arrhythmia territory.

In a matter of weeks, Nick has been hospitalized more than six times — including a 4-day hospital stay and a Flight for Life helicopter transport from our rural area to a trauma center when he went into adrenal crisis.

[Amanda + girls photo]

[Hospital monitor + HR 144 photo]

The medical evidence is undeniable. What's been harder to come by is adequate care. We have been fighting through a medical system that has repeatedly refused testing, dismissed his symptoms, and at one point — during an active adrenal crisis — discharged him alone with no coat, 60 miles from home, in the middle of the night.

Why we need your help — and why the road is long.

Nick's recovery is going to take at least six months. He has to rebuild basic strength from scratch, complete specialist testing he is still waiting for (a neuroendocrinologist appointment and a pituitary MRI), and stabilize the right cortisol replacement dose for his body. This is not a short illness. It is a serious chronic condition that needs time and structure to manage — and time is the resource we are losing.

To give Nick a chance at that recovery, my wife Amanda has had to take leave from her job of thirteen years. She is now his full-time caregiver and the full-time caregiver for our two daughters — a 4-year-old who is starting to understand that something is wrong, and a 6-month-old who needs her mother. There is no other way to keep Nick alive and keep our girls okay through this. The job she walked away from was supporting our family. Her absence from it is what makes Nick's survival possible.

Where your donation goes:

Replacing Amanda's income while she is on leave from her career, for the next six months

Rent, utilities, and basic household expenses for a family of four

Groceries and supplies for two small children

Medical co-pays, prescriptions, and gas for the hour-long drives to every appointment

Specialist consultations, the pituitary MRI, and out-of-pocket testing

Securing a real neuroendocrinologist who will treat Nick properly

Nick is still here because he refuses to give up — for his girls, for Amanda, for the version of his life that's still possible if he can just get through this stretch. Anything you can give helps keep him fighting.

If you can't give, please share. Word of mouth keeps families like ours afloat.

Thank you.

— Nick, Amanda, and the girls

From all the IV's I have had in the last month!

Helicopter Ride