
Please help Ben beat meningitis & support family
Donativo protegido
Hi, my name is Kris Kringle and I'm setting up this GoFundMe to help my son-in-law, daughter Jackie and their two children, Dane and Snow, recover from the financial burdens caused by his sudden diagnosis of a very rare form of meningitis.
Benjamin’s symptoms started at the beginning of August with mild headaches, which he quickly dismissed as work stress related, as the #americanartisan was working hard to complete a very large project before joining his wife and kids on a much needed vacation to visit her family on the east coast.
Unfortunately during that trip from August 4th through the 11th, instead of getting enough of the stress relief they anticipated, Benjamin’s headaches seemed to be getting more frequent and more severe. He did the best he could to enjoy the time with his family and tried to combat the headaches with as much tylenol and advil as he could handle. The entire time figuring he was just having a hard time letting go of the extremely stressful week at work leading up to the trip and being stressed about what he needed to accomplish as soon as they returned.
Upon their return from the east coast, Benjamin tried to go back to work on his next project, but the pain of the headaches was too much. His days were spent working on site and in his workshop for a few hours at a time before needing to use ice packs, medication and laying in a dark quiet room to try to find relief from the pain.
After suffering in pain through that first weekend home, Benjamin and Jackie called Monday morning to set an appointment to be seen for what they assumed to be chronic migraines. The soonest he could be seen would be that Friday, August 19th. He wouldn’t make it to that appointment. By Tuesday night Ben could no longer handle the writhing pain in his head and neck. My daughter Jackie said his speech was slurring, he was confusing words, and was unable to form some words. Late in the night Benjamin would tell my daughter Jackie that his vision was blurring and that he had numbness in his right hand and his jaw. They quickly got their daughter Snow out of bed and rushed to the ER at 4:00am on Wednesday August 17th, 2022.
After quick responses by the E.R. staff at River Falls Allina Hospital, an MRI and lumbar puncture would hint that he had some form of meningitis and that Benjamin was just hours from fatal brain injury. They quickly started him on I.V. medications and arranged transfer to United Hospital in St. Paul, MN to see a neurologist and infectious disease specialist. Once at United in St. Paul a second lumbar puncture and multiple blood tests confirmed it was indeed a very rare and aggressive fungal meningitis.
Benjamin would spend the next week in United hospital with round the clock anti-fungal I.V. infusions while being cared for by a team of infectious disease experts and a neurologist. His neurologist would later explain to Benjamin and Jackie that for someone his age and in as good a health as he is to catch this very rare form of meningitis was “like a lightning strike” and that he had faced a 40% mortality rate.
Thankfully through quick diagnosis, proper treatment, Benjamin’s own determination to recover, and the support of his family, he was able to be released as an outpatient after a week of battling fungal meningitis in the hospital.
Benjamin’s battle is far from over though. Benjamin had a 43 centimeter P.I.C.C. line installed which runs from his biceps to the top of his heart which is used to continue I.V. infusion therapy for three hours daily for the foreseeable future. Optimistically his outpatient treatment will only last a year before his labs will show enough of the fungal meningitis has been eradicated.
As Benjamin is self employed and unable to work for an unspecified amount of time, coupled with Jackie beginning a new job as a para at their daughters school, I know the financial worries are more than they should have to deal with right now on top of focusing on Benjamin’s recovery. My hope is to help in any way possible by seeking donations that will help with:
Daily infusion therapies
Multiple M.R.I. scans
Multiple lumbar punctures
Weekly lab testings
Prescriptions
Hospital bills
Specialist appointments
Home medical supplies
Covering lost income from the inability to work
Unforeseen future medical expenses
Thank you so much for your consideration and blessings, please spread the word to help this young man, wife and kids focus on the important healing they need.
Organizador y beneficiario
Krissy Krogseng Kringle
Organizador
Forest Lake, MN
Jackie Deaton
Beneficiario