Thank you family and friends for all your support.

Since early October, Greg Clark has had a steady decline in health.  He has gone from a smiling, happy jokester able to go to his full-time job to a bed-bound invalid, constantly in severe pain.

He was brought down by a migraine on October 2 and it took 5 days for it to go away with the help of doctors and medication.  

Before he could even get back to work the next week, Greg began to have intense back pain which resulted, after a week of pain, in discovering a 1 centimeter kidney stone which needed to be removed by lithotripsy - the use of lasers to break up the stone.

Greg's recovery from the pain of the kidney stone and removal procedure never seemed to happen. In fact, the pain in his back became even more intense. After multiple visits to the emergency room and many labs, x-rays and CT scans it was determined Greg had arthritis in his spine and possible bursitis in his shoulder. However, nothing seemed to help, including physical therapy and pain medications.  

Dealing with this back and shoulder pain for more than 5 weeks, Greg journeyed with his wife, Trish, to central Washington to surprise his second daughter, Elizabeth, and her family for Thanksgiving. Greg and Trish's oldest daughter, Lindsay, also flew in for the fun. During the trip, Greg pushed through the pain and he was able to enjoy a few hours with the family on Thanksgiving and then a few days later to enjoy a few hours spent watching The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (definitely not a waste of 3 hours as some might say...).  The rest of the 9 day journey was spent at the hotel, or in the car when traveling, trying to deal with the pain in his back with his family constantly worrying over him.

Now come to this last weekend. Upon returning home from his Thanksgiving travels, Greg began to worsen. He fell a few times during the week. Then, Saturday morning, he fell in the shower. He was able to get dressed and get to the bed but then could no longer move from the bed.  Unable to move him on her own due to her own health issues, Trish called an ambulance to get Greg to the Farmington hospital emergency room.

Again, it seemed that the diagnosis was going to be arthritis and bursitis and Greg would be sent home to try to deal with the pain. Then the ER doctor saw that he had an elevated white blood cell count. After considering this new evidence the Doctor ordered an MRI. The cause of the pain was finally found: vertebral osteomyelitis - a bone infection in the 5th thoracic vertebrae of his spine. Rare and very serious.

With this discovery, the worry intensified. The emergency room doctors immediately decided that a larger hospital needed to assist. Greg was life-flighted by plane from Farmington to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque early Sunday morning. Upon arrival to UNM's ER, the doctor determined the infection needed to be operated on immediately and Greg went into the operating room and a laminectomy was performed to remove the infected matter as well as parts of his 5th and 6th thoracic vertebrae.

Greg currently has a wound vacuum on his spine at the surgery site.  It's a way to close the wound without using stitches. He's been fit with a brace by his orthotics and physical therapy team. This morning he was able to briefly sit and stand up with their help.

Direct quote from Trish: 

"Dad is joking and laughing. Smiling.  He's doing MUCH better, in spite of everything. The old Greg is coming back. He's been gone since the first of October. One of the guys touched Dad's hair and Dad yelled 'OW' and laughed at their reaction."

We are so happy that Greg is on the road to recovery. It has been a long two months filled with worry over his ailments and his pain. We are so happy, also, that the infection was caught before anything worse could happen.

He's not in the clear, though. The doctors are currently trying to determine what type of bacteria was causing the infection. This discovery will help provide some answers in addition to allowing a more specialized treatment of antibiotics. Greg will need to undergo physical therapy to recover a lot of the muscle loss that occurred before the surgery and also to help him recover from the laminectomy. For now, he will be recovering at the UNM hospital but we are hoping he will be able to be moved to a hospital or rehabilitation facility closer to home. He will require physical therapy and weeks of intravenous antibiotic treatments.

Trish is currently staying in a hotel in Albuquerque along with her youngest daughter, Andrea, who has been her faithful helper through much of Greg's ailments.

Many of the bills for the emergency visits and lab work and imaging from the issues that started in early October have not been received yet. And now there is an ambulance ride, a plane ride, and surgery to add to those costs - along with his rehabilitation. The full extent of what is and will be owed is currently unknown and causing worry and stress for the Greg Clark family.

Greg's family has felt the love and support flowing their way from extended family and friends and also their church and their community.  

Any money you donate will be able to help Trish stay near Greg while he is in Albuquerque and will also be able to off-set some of the large bills they will be receiving from this journey to recovery for Greg.

We, Greg's family, thank you all from the depth of our hearts for being a friend to Greg and to us.  We are ever thankful for every kind word uttered, every hug offered, every prayer shared, every penny given. Your kindness is such a true example of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

We love you all!