Paul's Stroke Recovery

On April 10th, after having a grand ol' time playing Knockerball, my dad had a stroke. He is only 54 years old. As you can imagine, this came as a huge shock to all of us, and it still feels pretty surreal, two weeks on. He is still in the Oregon Rehab Center working extremely hard on his physical therapy and cognition. Thankfully, his personality is very much intact, and he has no trouble making the other patients and the staff laugh on a regular basis.

My mom has done an amazing job keeping the world updated on his progress over the last two weeks, and people have been coming out of the woodwork to ask how they can help. You all have no idea how much that means to us. The tricky part is actually coming up with an answer. So here it is. 

Without knowing how much insurance will cover, my parents are looking at enormous medical expenses, including an ambulance, admission to RiverBend for three days, MRIs and CTs and meds, and about three weeks in Rehab. Did you know the Rehab center costs $4,500 PER DAY?! Thankfully that bill seems to be getting put to good use, as his care there has been excellent. We are so so grateful to the amazing rehab staff, who all seem quite capable of both putting up with my dad, enjoying his, shall we say quirky, sense of humor, and also helping him to get well. 

In addition to medical bills, my dad has been and will remain unable to work indefinitely, which in itself stands for a huge loss of income for my parents. 

In order to make their house safe and accessible for my dad once he gets to come home, many modifications need to be made in the meantime. Some generous family members are already in the process of re-fitting his bathroom with a safe and accessible shower, hand rails, etc. We really have an amazingly skilled and generous family!

As their bedroom was upstairs, it now needs to be moved into another room of the house on the ground floor, with a different bed that he can safely get in and out of. Other modifications need to be made to the house such as adding handrails to the hallways, smooth floor transitions, and ramps. Of course none of these modifications will be covered by insurance and all come at significant monetary cost. 

Once Dad is home, he can't be alone for any length of time, lest he falls or experiences another stroke. This means someone will need to be hired as a part-time or live-in caretaker, also not covered by insurance. 

As you can imagine all of these issues are high priority and have added significant mental stresses for my parents, on top of trying to just focus on Dad getting well! It would be a dream if some of that stress could be alleviated so they can relax, focus, heal, and come home safely.

So many people, when they asked how they can help, have said "If it were me, Paul would be there in a heartbeat." And he sure would. My dad is one of the most generous people I know, and I can't think of a single person in our lives that he hasn't been there for when they need him. Now, reluctantly, we're asking those of you who can to return the favor.

So you know where the money goes, my mom, Debbi, has sole access to the funds raised.  

With our endless Love and Gratitude, 

Paul's daughter, Alyssa