Tom's Medical Bills and Living

This donations page is for Tom Moreno, the youngest of 3, who has never asked his older brother for anything, including this. As Tom's brother, I felt completely helpless as he going through this chapter of his life which is filled with a sense of guilt and a bit of hopelessness. Tom would never ask anyone to raise money on his behalf; I think that is why I want to do it so badly. I really want to help Tom. I am sure my mom heard this from someone else, but it is one of my favorites, "I don't help you because I have to, I do it because I want to." 

Tom's bills from the incident described below, not to mention his day to day living expenses are growing every day. Tom was in a "window period" and had no insurance during the time of the accident. Also, he was denied disability, I am not sure why, but regardless, I was really angry. I can't imagine the emotions going on with my Mom and Tom.

Today (11/16) is Tom's birthday, I don't know what Tom asked for, or what he wants, all I could think of to give him was some love and support during this hard time. I know that Tom has had amazing support from his family, friends, my friends (most of whom have never met Tom), and our community. I put this together on his birthday, as a present to make sure he knows how many people care for him, about him, and what people would do for him.

Below are some of the events, from the day it happened, to where he is at today. I will constantly try to update this as I get more info. 

Thursday, October 11th 2012
Tom was cutting down a few branches on a tree on his property before going to work. This is pretty routine work; he has been using a chainsaw since we were kids. He was on a ladder, slipped a bit, the chainsaw caught his sleeve, and the rest, is a lot to talk about. Thankfully, his injury was not fatal, but the chainsaw did mangle his arm horribly. He was rushed to Bronson Hospital in Kalamazoo. After stabilization, a solid 5-6 hours, he went into surgery that lasted over 9 hours. The surgeons did everything they could do to save his arm, including grafts from his leg to repair nerve, muscle, veins, etc. My parents stayed with him all night, my mom spent the night there. He had to stay 3 nights to recover, the first 2 days (I believe only 1 night, revision) without speaking due to the tube in his throat.

I called him on Saturday, just after they removed the tube, you could tell he was sore and in pain, the first thing he said to me, other than "hi", was, "I will never be able to ride a motorcycle again".  I was gutted; I didn't know what to say, all I could say was, "You'll be able to get back what you put into the therapy." 

Tom has been back to the doctor every week, he has had his wound closed more (Too swollen and too large of a wound to close in a few appointments), he finally got a pulse in his arm last week, 11/6. He does therapy a few times a week, and is really pushing himself, often getting upset at the lack of progress.