Seth Owen

My name is Shelby Nelson and I am raising money for my oldest son, Seth Owen medical bills & expenses. Please share this.

Seth was born in 1992 with a severe congenital condition called Gastroschisis. His bowel and intestines were on the outside of his stomach. While this has caused problems his entire life, in the past year it has been a debilitating chronic pain with no relief.

His late father served in Desert Storm, and Seth was one of many babies born after the Gulf War with life threatening birth defects. He remained in NICU at UNC-CHAPEL HILL for a month.

Seth's life has always been affected by the Gastroschisis. Due to his time on a ventilator, he has severe bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. He has a speech impediment from the hearing loss. All of his internal organs are in the wrong place due to the repair at birth. He has been in and out of multiple doctors' offices, ERs, hospitals, and specialists' offices for the last 33 years.

Last year, 2024, Seth's pain increased to an excruciating level. He suffered for several months before finding a surgeon willing to go in, requiring a laparoscopic surgery, to see if anything could be done to alleviate some of his pain. Seth was then opened up, and a full-blown operation began. The surgery exposed two deep hernias tangled in his intestines, and they repaired a mild rotation, removed the hernias, and his appendix. He spent a week or so in the hospital, then 36 hours after he was released, he was in emergency surgery due to his intestinal wall collapsing. He was in the hospital then for almost a month and was continuously throwing up stomach and stool contents. In January of this year, he was once again admitted to the hospital after he collapsed in the yard. He was there for 4-5 days. The surgeon was honest that Seth would never be "normal" and that was nothing they could do to "cure" this and that he can expect to be in pain for the rest of his life. Some doctors have never even heard of Gastroschisis!!!

Seth lives with a constant pain level of 8, sometimes more. He must wear a band around his stomach to keep it from swelling or feeling like it's about to fall out. He can no longer lay on his side to sleep and has terrible shortness of breath. He has been shuffled from doctor to doctor and cannot find relief. He has even had trouble just getting short-term disability due to no doctor wanting to take responsibility for signing his paperwork. He has been referred to multiple specialists (each copay is $135.00): surgeons, gastroenterologists, pain clinics, CT scans, endoscopy, colonoscopy—the list goes on and on.

Seth has been unable to work for basically the past year. His wife unfortunately lost her job and is trying each day to find a new position. They have no income and a house payment, doctor and hospital bills of almost $20,000, as well as multiple co-pays weekly just to see a doctor or specialist he has been referred to.

Seth has had many health challenges in his life but has remained friendly, humble, and was a very hardworking man before his condition deteriorated.

They worked so hard to get their little home, and now they are very close to losing it.

If you can afford to donate, we would greatly appreciate it.