Support Ben's Journey to Brain Injury Recovery

Hi all.

Ben doesn’t know I’ve started this. He's pretty down right now and I’d like to surprise him.

This past week, Ben was diagnosed with an acute traumatic brain injury from an accident that occurred several months ago. He's had multiple concussions in the past which left his brain in a weakened state, and the last hit to the head was pretty severe. The injury is going to take quite some time to heal--likely several years. We are beginning to navigate our options with the help of a local brain injury clinic, but in the meantime things have gotten difficult.

There is a set of scans which are necessary but not covered by insurance. These scans will give more details as to the exact location and extent of the injury, making it easier to develop a treatment plan (treatment is covered by insurance thankfully). The clinic is not local so we’ll have to travel and stay a few nights as the diagnostic process takes 2-3 days.

We also have to look at planting roots near the treatment facilities. We never thought we’d land here but the medical system is much more capable of treating TBI here than anywhere else in the country.

I’m reaching out for help for a few things.

—Brain scans and diagnostic imaging not covered by insurance

—Travel costs to get to the clinic and back home, including hotel stay

—Overdue copays from previous MRIs

—Medication that’s not covered by insurance just yet (it will be heavily discounted for us soon though, thankfully!)

—A few personal/essential expenses (phone bill, internet, health insurance) for the couple of weeks while we work through the options for paying bills long term

—Copays for upcoming neurology appointments

—High quality TBI sunglasses for Ben as the injury he’s dealing with has affected his eyes… he’s wearing sunglasses even when inside due to light sensitivity and I’d like to get him a pair that fit properly and work better.

Bens injury is causing a wide variety of symptoms including confusion, memory loss, balance problems, severe headaches, difficulty finding words/understanding what's spoken to him, decreased attention span, dizziness, fatigue, increased anxiety, as well as some other physiological problems with his eyes and muscles.

He can still go about his daily business, talk on the phone, take walks…. but everything has become a lot more challenging. He's not allowed to work or focus on a task for more than 15 minutes at a time.

His brain will have to heal, strengthen and then be retrained in multiple areas.

We’ve been assured that a full recovery is possible and there aren’t many concerns about lifelong damage as of now.

Things are rough and I understand money is tight all around while our world tries to find its sanity again.

If you are able to help, thank you.

If you can’t help but you can pray, please pray for quick healing and that all of the necessary details can be worked out without too much difficulty.

Thanks everyone.

Also, if anybody feels inclined, the kids would love to visit a movie theatre, trampoline park, or something else carefree and fun when we take Ben for his imaging. They've done a great job through this whole process, but a lot of changes have happened in a short amount of time I think it'd do them good to have a fun day with some of their favorite things.