¡¿Por Que No Ecuador?!
Doação protegida
Thank you for joining us on our biggest adventure yet! We invite you to join us as we will begin by detailing the reasons we are seeking an improvement in our quality of life and how/why we chose Ecuador to begin our search.
Jenni and Corey's short story:
The birds were chirping and the bees were buzzing… Okay no, probably not since it was mid January in Colorado. But it was January of 2010 when we first met at the Boulder Outlook Hotel here in Boulder, Colorado. More specifically, Jenni was the Front Desk Supervisor for the hotel and Corey was Bar Manager of the associated blues bar and restaurant. In November of 2014 the Boulder Outlook closed permanently, as the property had been sold to build student style housing. We saw this as a serendipitous opportunity as there were only a few months left on our lease and we have no other major obligations. It was also at this time that we discovered just how expensive and difficult it would be to find affordable health insurance, especially for Corey.
Corey was born and raised in "Live Free or Die" Littleton, New Hampshire. After graduation in 1999, he served as an Air Traffic Controller in The Air Force for 4 years before moving to Colorado in 2004. He has loved his time here in Colorado, but in 2011 life started to become exceedingly difficult. Within a two year period Corey's father passed away from a heart attack, his grandmother died, his stepfather suffered a serious accident leaving him with major health complications, and his mother passed away losing her fourth battle with stage 4 lung cancer. To top it all off Corey was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis 10 days prior to his mother passing.
Since Corey was diagnosed, we have sought expert advise from multiple neurologists including The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Keiser Permenente, and most recently The Colorado University Medical Campus at Anshultz where Corey participated in a test study for one of the newest MS treatments. Without going into too much detail, the study provided Corey with a combo treatment in hopes of putting the disease into a dormant state. Unfortunately, after trying this treatment option for the full year we discovered with his latest MRI that he has 7 new lesions on the brain. The treatment isn't working. The fact is that there is no known cure for M.S. and every case is very different. Our goal is to maintain Corey's quality of a healthy and happy life for as long as possible, and finding a treatment that successfully works with his body will be crucial for this.
Ecuador had always been on the radar as a pipe dream for a place we would love to "retire" to. The more we read about the country, the more we love it. Not only does Ecuador provide the perfect climate (to us), but we read there are extremely friendly and accepting people, an interesting culture, it's location couldn't be better, the cost of living is ridiculously low (about $700/month will cover everything including rent, food, internet, etc. for two people), AND Ecuador has awesome healthcare! As described by Harvard College: "Bloomberg’s Best and Worst database notes that Ecuador’s health system exceeds in efficiency the systems from Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru and the United States – the latter country among the last in the ranking." In fact, Ecuador was recently ranked 20th best health care IN THE WORLD! Simply put what would easily cost us over $60,000 a year in America (as most insurance companies do not cover the stronger M.S. medications) will be less than $5,500 a year in Ecuador!!!
In other words, why the heck not!? (!?Por Que No!?) We know this is the only time in our lives that we will have this equation in life: No kids + no mortgage + no "career" + steady health = TRAVEL AND EXPLORE! Getting the opportunity in life to turn traveling into a huge medical and financial benefit doesn't happen often, and we feel beyond blessed to be able to turn our pipe dream into our reality. We have so much excitement for the next year of our lives, it is impossible to describe in words. Our goal is to save up enough money to be able to comfortably get to Ecuador, find a place to live, and get Corey the treatment we would like to try next. With your help, this will be possible!
Jenni and Corey's short story:
The birds were chirping and the bees were buzzing… Okay no, probably not since it was mid January in Colorado. But it was January of 2010 when we first met at the Boulder Outlook Hotel here in Boulder, Colorado. More specifically, Jenni was the Front Desk Supervisor for the hotel and Corey was Bar Manager of the associated blues bar and restaurant. In November of 2014 the Boulder Outlook closed permanently, as the property had been sold to build student style housing. We saw this as a serendipitous opportunity as there were only a few months left on our lease and we have no other major obligations. It was also at this time that we discovered just how expensive and difficult it would be to find affordable health insurance, especially for Corey.
Corey was born and raised in "Live Free or Die" Littleton, New Hampshire. After graduation in 1999, he served as an Air Traffic Controller in The Air Force for 4 years before moving to Colorado in 2004. He has loved his time here in Colorado, but in 2011 life started to become exceedingly difficult. Within a two year period Corey's father passed away from a heart attack, his grandmother died, his stepfather suffered a serious accident leaving him with major health complications, and his mother passed away losing her fourth battle with stage 4 lung cancer. To top it all off Corey was diagnosed with Relapsing Remitting Multiple Sclerosis 10 days prior to his mother passing.
Since Corey was diagnosed, we have sought expert advise from multiple neurologists including The Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, Keiser Permenente, and most recently The Colorado University Medical Campus at Anshultz where Corey participated in a test study for one of the newest MS treatments. Without going into too much detail, the study provided Corey with a combo treatment in hopes of putting the disease into a dormant state. Unfortunately, after trying this treatment option for the full year we discovered with his latest MRI that he has 7 new lesions on the brain. The treatment isn't working. The fact is that there is no known cure for M.S. and every case is very different. Our goal is to maintain Corey's quality of a healthy and happy life for as long as possible, and finding a treatment that successfully works with his body will be crucial for this.
Ecuador had always been on the radar as a pipe dream for a place we would love to "retire" to. The more we read about the country, the more we love it. Not only does Ecuador provide the perfect climate (to us), but we read there are extremely friendly and accepting people, an interesting culture, it's location couldn't be better, the cost of living is ridiculously low (about $700/month will cover everything including rent, food, internet, etc. for two people), AND Ecuador has awesome healthcare! As described by Harvard College: "Bloomberg’s Best and Worst database notes that Ecuador’s health system exceeds in efficiency the systems from Cuba, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Venezuela, Peru and the United States – the latter country among the last in the ranking." In fact, Ecuador was recently ranked 20th best health care IN THE WORLD! Simply put what would easily cost us over $60,000 a year in America (as most insurance companies do not cover the stronger M.S. medications) will be less than $5,500 a year in Ecuador!!!
In other words, why the heck not!? (!?Por Que No!?) We know this is the only time in our lives that we will have this equation in life: No kids + no mortgage + no "career" + steady health = TRAVEL AND EXPLORE! Getting the opportunity in life to turn traveling into a huge medical and financial benefit doesn't happen often, and we feel beyond blessed to be able to turn our pipe dream into our reality. We have so much excitement for the next year of our lives, it is impossible to describe in words. Our goal is to save up enough money to be able to comfortably get to Ecuador, find a place to live, and get Corey the treatment we would like to try next. With your help, this will be possible!
Organizador
Corey Baker
Organizador
Boulder, CO