At the end of January Ray became ill with what we all thought was the flu, on February 1sthe was admitted to ICU in the Gillette hospital where it is was discovered that he had viral meningitis and shingles on his brain, leading to encephalitis. Causing much confusion and delirium as well as being essentially bed ridden. He was put on high doses of anti-viral medication to fight the meningitis and shingles. While he was there, he then contracted pneumonia and had to be intubated and put on a breathing tube. They were able to extubate him after seven days and we all thought he was on the uphill of this illness. On February 11ththe doctors decided that he needed to be moved to the Billings clinic where he would receive more specialized care that included infectious disease doctors and neurologists. Ray was in ICU at the Billings clinic for about four days and was then able to be moved to a regular room where he seemed to improve some, but still lots of confusion,he was put back on anti-viral meds to make sure that his body had gotten rid of the meningitis and shingles. Nine days later he took aturn for the worse again, his body temperature dropped to around 91 degrees and he contracted pneumonia again! He was moved back the ICU where he was intubated a second time and more tests ran to make sure nothing else was going on. They were able to extubate him just a few days later and move him out of ICU and back to a regular room. He seems to be on the healing side of all of this and has been moved to the Advanced Care Hospital of Montana where he will receive care to help him recover from this very serious illness and help work with the respiratory side of things in his healing. Ray still has a long road of recovery in front of him. Fortunately, he has some medical insurance that is helping cover this. His wife Melinda has been by his side from day one, advocating for his careand communicating to family, which has meant being away from the ranch, it has also meant hotel stays, traveling back and forth and eating away from home for all of the family, as well as making sure things at the ranch continue as normal. As most people know these things add up fast, if you would like to donate to help with these expenses,we know the family would be very appreciative, but more importantly we ask for continued prayers for healing.