On January 4th, 2019, my dad suffered an acute stroke in the white matter of his cerebrum. My mom was was out of town at the time, and Dad was home by himself. Luckily, he had enough awareness to call my mom, who could tell that something was wrong. When she had the neighbors go check on him, they found him lying on the bathroom floor and immediately called 911.

When my dad got to the emergency room, his blood sugar was close to 600 mg/dL (normal blood sugar is between 80 and 120 mg/dL), his blood pressure was elevated, and he had swelling around his mouth that indicated that he had fallen at home and been unable to catch himself.

While he was at the emergency room, they confirmed the presence of a stroke, and began administering blood thinners and insulin to try to get his blood sugar under control. At this time, he was effectively in a diabetic coma.

Dad has now been in the hospital for three weeks and is improving daily, but the stroke caused motor and speech problems that give him trouble performing simple tasks such as feeding himself or communicating what he wants for lunch.

The good news is that the doctors expect him to make a full recovery, but that it's going to take time at a rehabilitation facility for his speech and movement to get back to normal. 

Through all of this, my mom has been so incredibly strong. She has been taking care of Dad, dealing with social workers and the insurance company, all while still working her regular job. But she's worried about money.

The doctors are unable to tell her for certain how long Dad will need to be in rehab, and even with insurance, a facility with the type of care Dad will require is going to be at least $200 a day. Not to mention his three week hospital stay.

I set the goal for this fundraiser at $10,000 fully realizing that it's a large amount of money, but also realizing that Mom will worry a little less with each dollar raised.

All money raised will be used explicitly for Dad's care, and is greatly appreciated.