Fundraising for Bill Cunningham

Our father, Bill Cunningham, was living a very normal life in Olathe, Kansas. He was doing all the things he loved like running, lifting weights, yoga, and enjoying time with our mom. Late August came around and his “normal” changed forever. What began as muscle spasms in his legs escalated to tingling and numbness and then to falling unexpectedly. His primary care provider prescribed medication, but it was ineffective. On August 30, 2022 while walking into the ER he fell. They began to run CT scans, MRI’s, blood work and later a spinal tap. Our father did not realize at that moment that the short walk into the ER would be the last time he would ever walk or even feel his legs.

An MRI showed that he had cervical stenosis in several discs and an infection in his spinal fluid. While still in the hospital, he started to lose feeling in his feet and lower legs. Each day the paralysis progressed up his body and doctors couldn’t agree on a medical intervention. It was heartbreaking watching our dad lose the ability to use his legs and we all felt helpless sitting and waiting for answers. Many of his symptoms weren’t making sense or aligning with initial diagnoses, so they began sending off blood and spinal fluid samples to labs in Utah and the Mayo Clinic. After a week the paralysis was starting to spread up to his hands. The neurosurgeon finally agreed to do surgery for cervical stenosis. He also recommended spinal cord rehab in Lincoln, NE at Madonna. With two of us (myself and Janel) living in the Lincoln area, we agreed this would be the place to be as our mom would have a place to stay. Our father arrived at Madonna on September 15, 2022, via ambulance transport (this $5000 service was not covered by insurance). We all were so excited for him to have the opportunity to be evaluated and begin therapy. He got settled in and was ready to do the work.

Unfortunately, our dad was dealt another setback. The second night's stay at Madonna did not go as planned and he was taken to the Bryan East ER with trouble breathing, pain in his neck and extremely low blood pressure. He had suddenly lost what feeling he had left in his arms and hands. The ER doctor found a large hematoma on his neck where he had previously had surgery. By that afternoon he was transported to Bryan West for another surgery to remove the hematoma. He spent about a week in the ICU before coming back to Madonna. After being at Madonna for only a couple of days, he was back in the ER for a blood clot in his leg. He had an IVC filter placed. It took yet another week for insurance to approve him to go back to Madonna from the hospital. During these weeks of waiting in the hospital, dad lost valuable therapy time.

We are happy to report he has been back at Madonna for the last several weeks and has begun therapy. It’s hard to swallow these words, but our father now lives as a person with quadriplegia. We are hopeful that he will regain some movement with intensive therapy, time, hard work, and most of all patience. Those of you who know our father know how active of a man he has always been. Losing the ability to use his arms and legs has been devastating. We don’t know how he does it but Dad has remained positive and hopeful!

For now, our father is authorized through Medicare until the end of October. His Doctors have recommended that he transition to another skilled nursing facility to continue rehab. Some of you may not know this, but our dad was in the Air Force for nearly 8 years. Thankfully, we will be able to utilize Veteran benefits and he can be transferred to a VA Spinal Cord Injury clinic either in Minneapolis, MN or St. Louis, MO. We hope to find out in the next week where he is going. Our mother will have a place to stay while he is there, but for us girls this will be more difficult.

As a family we are experiencing how quickly life can change in a blink of an eye. We don’t know what the future holds, but we know that there have been out-of-pocket costs not covered by insurance and there will be many other expenses along the way during his rehabilitation journey. Our mom is also facing hardships, as she been traveling back and forth to different hospitals, traveling out of state, eating on the go, and has little time or energy to give to the various tasks of daily living. We are fortunate that Lindsey is home in Kansas keeping an eye on the house while our mom is out of town and providing support when she is home. We also have to begin planning for dad to come home, which will also require multiple expenses. We will need to have transportation that will accommodate a wheelchair and make many modifications to their home so dad can have access to all the things he needs. Many people have reached out or asked how they could help so we have decided to start this Go Fund Me to help support our parents. We are so very grateful for any support you may be able to provide for our family. “Alone we are strong… together we are stronger.”

We also ask if you would consider saying a prayer for Bill’s strength and recovery or adding him to your prayer list as he continues rehab and prepares to move to a new city. Thank you!!

Megan, Janel and Lindsey