Scott Rodvold's "Live Again" Fund
Donation protected
PLEASE bless my brother Scott Rodvold with the gift of a donation to help his recovery from a deadly eColi infection that lead to Septic Shock and the need for a liver transplant and eventual finger & toe amputation, because bills are skyrocketing, insurance coverage is running out, and he is no longer able to work. Moreover, his wife, Makiko, is only able to work part time due to providing Scott's care and the care of their young son, Sho. Also, please share his story with everyone in all of your social networks. Scott and his family really need our help! Thank you in advance for anything you can give. Just think, if 5000 people donate just $20 each, we'll reach our goal!
Read his story below.
Photo Below: Scott waking up recently after toe amputation surgery. He has only one remaining full toe and toe nail. All the other toes were cut off to the joint. Surgery to remove fingers had already been done prior to this surgery. He lost all of his fingers on his right hand and 3 on his left hand. He still has his full left thumb and middle finger.
Current Situation
Scott has been in a skilled nursing facility the past 3 months where they administer medication for infections and pain from amputations and where he gets both physical and occupational therapy. He is able to barely walk with assistance and is relearning to use his hands, but insurance coverage will run out on May 17th, and they'll have to pay the $500 / day out of pocket!!! On top of that, he'll be dealing with lifelong issues, coinfections, and treatment from the liver transplant (10-20 medications a day for life). He has a loooong way to go.
On the bright side, Scott is a fighter and has great faith in God. He is the bravest man I know and works daily to keep his spirits up. He's hopeful that he'll eventually be able to donate his time helping others. For those of you who know him well, you'll be happy to hear that he has not lost his wonderful sense of humor!
Scott's Medical Crisis & Journey:
Many of you have followed and been part of Scott's journey through his medical crisis and have helped him with your prayers, but for those who have not, I'll retell his story.
After Christmas in the midst of moving, Scott got suddenly extremely ill. He went to the Kaiser emergency room on Friday morning Dec 30th and was sent home with basic antibiotics. By that evening he had a 105 fever and was taken unconscious via ambulence to the emergency room at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. It took them a few days to determine that he had Rotovirus in his colon with 2 bacteria in his bloodstream. One of those bacteria was e Coli. The blood infections caused him to go into Septic Shock which usually kills people with organ failure and heart attack. They gave him several antibiotics and blood pressure raising meds (his was 50/20). Blood pressure drops so that all the blood can go to the organs. Those blood pressure meds cause limb loss in some people, and his fingers and toes all started to die. His kidneys shut down, and he was on 24/7 dialysis. By Wednesday (Jan 4th) his liver had also failed. We typically have a maximum one week to live once that happens. At that point, more friends and family started visiting him and started prayer networks by the hundreds.
By Thursday afternoon, his status had miraculously improved "slightly". Still, the doctors were saying that his only chance to live would be a liver transplant at that point, but they didn't think the transplant center would take his case. After seeing all the people there to support him, they decided on Friday to look into it anyway. It was a long shot, but UCSF (the best transplant facility in the country) agreed to take him for evaluation! So we all went up to San Francisco. We (at least 10 of us plus or minus various friends and family in and out) stayed with him 12 hours a day, taking turns sitting with him in ICU. His pastor, Jesse, and many others prayed over him and/or used hands-on energy healing.
Since his case was so critical, the UCSF ICU transplant team (of amazing super hero doctors and nurses) did the evaluations (ekg's, biopsies, scans, bloodwork, social eval., etc) in 2 days rather than the usual week or two. We held our breath at every step. They said that they had NEVER seen such a critical case (and they get several hundred a year) and that they didn't know how he was still alive!
Late Sunday afternoon, we got the final word that they approved him for the transplant and that he was at the top of the donor recipient list. The doctor told us that since he was so sick, it was his having so many people there to support him that tipped their decision to a "yes" answer!! By then, Scott was completely yellow and needed a whole liver because his was dead and he had so many toxins in his system. They also approved him for kidneys.
We spent the next 30 or so hours waiting to hear about a donor. It was really hard wishing for one, since it meant someone was going to die!!! Around 10 pm Monday night as we were saying good-night to leave, the doctor came in and told us a 60 yo woman had had a stroke, and we had a donor! Talk about exciting and sad! Tuesday was the cutoff. If we hadn't had one by then, they were not going to do a transplant. Needless to say, none of us slept much that night as surgery was the next morning.
Tuesday morning we headed back up to San Francisco (about an hour drive). Prior to surgery the Dr told us how risky the surgery was since he didn't have the usual clotting factors that are produced by the liver.....scary. He also said that he'd be doing a biopsy of the kidneys to see if he needed the kidneys (which were not a good match btw). After about 7 hours, we got the news that not only was the surgery successful, but that Scott's kidneys were in good enough shape to "turn back on" at some point. No guarantee. All good news. And another person or two would be able to use the donor's kidneys! We all literally jumped up and down, hooted, hollered, high-fived etc. When we were able to see him hours later, he was already showing signs of a liver at work. His face was pink again for the first time in over a week. That night, on the way home to Mountain View, my sister in law and I took their 10 year old son to Baskin Robins to have ice cream for dinner!!!
The rest of that week, we waited for further signs of recovery while sitting with him 12 hours a day. Scott opened his eyes after a couple of days, but stared into space for several days. He'd seem to focus on us but was clearly not registering much. They said it's common for transplant recipients to hallucinate for a while after waking up and that he's been unconscious for so long that they didn't know what to expect. I kept massaging his hands with Frankincense oil hoping to save as much tissue as possible and keep them warm.
By Saturday night (1/15), he was just making eye contact slightly and seemed very afraid. He had tubes in his mouth so couldn't talk even if able. Finally, on Monday, he recognized everyone and was taking simple commands such as move your leg left, look right, nod if you hear me, so the doctors decided to remove his tubes. By then he was understanding everything and was able to speak a little. Soon after regaining full consciuosness he was eating, drinking, talking and in physical therapy to get his muscles moving again!!!
It's been 5 months now, and Scott has made many improvements. They moved him from UCSF ICU to Kaiser Santa Clara, and eventually from there to a skilled nursing facility. His kidneys have regained full function! The liver seems to be doing well, but he gets serious infections (currently in his hip bone--ouch!) due to the anti-rejection medications. He'll likely have to be on 10-20 medications for the rest of his life. He's had most of his fingers and toes amputated and is learning how to function without them. He'll require ongoing care and likely many special assistance technologies. So, please, please, please bless him with your donation today!
MORE PHOTOS
Below: Unconscious in ICU the first week. Due to septic shock and the meds they gave him for low blood pressure, his fingers and toes lacked oxygen and began to die.
Below: 2 photos of family, pastor, and friends in the waiting room shortly after the liver transplant surgery. Along the way, hearts were full, tears were shed, family relationships were healed, people came together, miracles and bravery were witnessed, much love was experienced...
Below: Scott and his oldest 2 kids, Lorraine and Kevin at the skilled nursing facility recently during physical therapy.
Below: Scott & beautiful family before his medical crisis.
Read his story below.
Photo Below: Scott waking up recently after toe amputation surgery. He has only one remaining full toe and toe nail. All the other toes were cut off to the joint. Surgery to remove fingers had already been done prior to this surgery. He lost all of his fingers on his right hand and 3 on his left hand. He still has his full left thumb and middle finger.
Current Situation
Scott has been in a skilled nursing facility the past 3 months where they administer medication for infections and pain from amputations and where he gets both physical and occupational therapy. He is able to barely walk with assistance and is relearning to use his hands, but insurance coverage will run out on May 17th, and they'll have to pay the $500 / day out of pocket!!! On top of that, he'll be dealing with lifelong issues, coinfections, and treatment from the liver transplant (10-20 medications a day for life). He has a loooong way to go.
On the bright side, Scott is a fighter and has great faith in God. He is the bravest man I know and works daily to keep his spirits up. He's hopeful that he'll eventually be able to donate his time helping others. For those of you who know him well, you'll be happy to hear that he has not lost his wonderful sense of humor!
Scott's Medical Crisis & Journey:
Many of you have followed and been part of Scott's journey through his medical crisis and have helped him with your prayers, but for those who have not, I'll retell his story.
After Christmas in the midst of moving, Scott got suddenly extremely ill. He went to the Kaiser emergency room on Friday morning Dec 30th and was sent home with basic antibiotics. By that evening he had a 105 fever and was taken unconscious via ambulence to the emergency room at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, CA. It took them a few days to determine that he had Rotovirus in his colon with 2 bacteria in his bloodstream. One of those bacteria was e Coli. The blood infections caused him to go into Septic Shock which usually kills people with organ failure and heart attack. They gave him several antibiotics and blood pressure raising meds (his was 50/20). Blood pressure drops so that all the blood can go to the organs. Those blood pressure meds cause limb loss in some people, and his fingers and toes all started to die. His kidneys shut down, and he was on 24/7 dialysis. By Wednesday (Jan 4th) his liver had also failed. We typically have a maximum one week to live once that happens. At that point, more friends and family started visiting him and started prayer networks by the hundreds.
By Thursday afternoon, his status had miraculously improved "slightly". Still, the doctors were saying that his only chance to live would be a liver transplant at that point, but they didn't think the transplant center would take his case. After seeing all the people there to support him, they decided on Friday to look into it anyway. It was a long shot, but UCSF (the best transplant facility in the country) agreed to take him for evaluation! So we all went up to San Francisco. We (at least 10 of us plus or minus various friends and family in and out) stayed with him 12 hours a day, taking turns sitting with him in ICU. His pastor, Jesse, and many others prayed over him and/or used hands-on energy healing.
Since his case was so critical, the UCSF ICU transplant team (of amazing super hero doctors and nurses) did the evaluations (ekg's, biopsies, scans, bloodwork, social eval., etc) in 2 days rather than the usual week or two. We held our breath at every step. They said that they had NEVER seen such a critical case (and they get several hundred a year) and that they didn't know how he was still alive!
Late Sunday afternoon, we got the final word that they approved him for the transplant and that he was at the top of the donor recipient list. The doctor told us that since he was so sick, it was his having so many people there to support him that tipped their decision to a "yes" answer!! By then, Scott was completely yellow and needed a whole liver because his was dead and he had so many toxins in his system. They also approved him for kidneys.
We spent the next 30 or so hours waiting to hear about a donor. It was really hard wishing for one, since it meant someone was going to die!!! Around 10 pm Monday night as we were saying good-night to leave, the doctor came in and told us a 60 yo woman had had a stroke, and we had a donor! Talk about exciting and sad! Tuesday was the cutoff. If we hadn't had one by then, they were not going to do a transplant. Needless to say, none of us slept much that night as surgery was the next morning.
Tuesday morning we headed back up to San Francisco (about an hour drive). Prior to surgery the Dr told us how risky the surgery was since he didn't have the usual clotting factors that are produced by the liver.....scary. He also said that he'd be doing a biopsy of the kidneys to see if he needed the kidneys (which were not a good match btw). After about 7 hours, we got the news that not only was the surgery successful, but that Scott's kidneys were in good enough shape to "turn back on" at some point. No guarantee. All good news. And another person or two would be able to use the donor's kidneys! We all literally jumped up and down, hooted, hollered, high-fived etc. When we were able to see him hours later, he was already showing signs of a liver at work. His face was pink again for the first time in over a week. That night, on the way home to Mountain View, my sister in law and I took their 10 year old son to Baskin Robins to have ice cream for dinner!!!
The rest of that week, we waited for further signs of recovery while sitting with him 12 hours a day. Scott opened his eyes after a couple of days, but stared into space for several days. He'd seem to focus on us but was clearly not registering much. They said it's common for transplant recipients to hallucinate for a while after waking up and that he's been unconscious for so long that they didn't know what to expect. I kept massaging his hands with Frankincense oil hoping to save as much tissue as possible and keep them warm.
By Saturday night (1/15), he was just making eye contact slightly and seemed very afraid. He had tubes in his mouth so couldn't talk even if able. Finally, on Monday, he recognized everyone and was taking simple commands such as move your leg left, look right, nod if you hear me, so the doctors decided to remove his tubes. By then he was understanding everything and was able to speak a little. Soon after regaining full consciuosness he was eating, drinking, talking and in physical therapy to get his muscles moving again!!!
It's been 5 months now, and Scott has made many improvements. They moved him from UCSF ICU to Kaiser Santa Clara, and eventually from there to a skilled nursing facility. His kidneys have regained full function! The liver seems to be doing well, but he gets serious infections (currently in his hip bone--ouch!) due to the anti-rejection medications. He'll likely have to be on 10-20 medications for the rest of his life. He's had most of his fingers and toes amputated and is learning how to function without them. He'll require ongoing care and likely many special assistance technologies. So, please, please, please bless him with your donation today!
MORE PHOTOS
Below: Unconscious in ICU the first week. Due to septic shock and the meds they gave him for low blood pressure, his fingers and toes lacked oxygen and began to die.
Below: 2 photos of family, pastor, and friends in the waiting room shortly after the liver transplant surgery. Along the way, hearts were full, tears were shed, family relationships were healed, people came together, miracles and bravery were witnessed, much love was experienced...Below: Scott and his oldest 2 kids, Lorraine and Kevin at the skilled nursing facility recently during physical therapy.
Below: Scott & beautiful family before his medical crisis.Organizer and beneficiary
Michelle Rodvold
Organizer
Broomfield, CO
Scott Rodvold
Beneficiary