On December 20th at 4 in the morning we got a call from the hospital letting us know that our dad was being air lifted to Harborview because he had a severe brain bleed. He needed 2 blood transfusions before they could even take him to surgery because his hemoglobin and blood levels were so low. We found out He had fallen 3 times at home the day before. And once 2 weeks before, and was not taken to the doctors even though he expressed and was having multiple symptoms. He had 5 strokes because of the pressure and blood in head. They had to take off a portion of his skull to relieve the pressure and the bleeding.

The doctors initially thought he had cancer, because his white blood count is significantly low and they thought he had bone cancer. The doctors told us if cancer would show up in his blood, they could diagnose him from there, but it wasn't so they wanted to do a bone marrow biopsy. His biopsy took about a week and a half to come back and we were shocked with the results. My dad’s bone marrow was so depleted of someone who has had extensive amounts of chemo. The oncology team questioned us if he had ever had chemo or radiation, we answered no and no. they asked us about drug use and we said absolutely not. The doctors came to the conclusion that he had to have been exposed or ingesting some type of toxin or chemical for his bone marrow to be this way, they told us that poisoning was definitely a possibility. We also learned that because of the pressure on his brain from the bleeding this had completely damaged the occipital portion of his brain and our dad was now blind. The doctors told us they were not sure how his memory would be and how his speech would be that we would learn over time. Our dad was slowly doing better he got his intubation tubes taken out and was taken off the ventilator.

He did have a broken forearm on his right side from one of the possible falls. His blood continued to drop and not stay stable. My dad got a total of 20-25 blood transfusions and platelets. He did get infection after infection during his stay and was septic at one point. The doctors tried having the hospice talk with us several times through your 2 month stay at Harborview but we weren't ready to give up on you. You had so much work to do and we knew you could do it. And then Our dad had a scary reaction to the platelets and from then on they had to start screening the platelets. Our dads blood finally started to stabilize in end of Jan, which then proved to the doctors that my dad was ingesting some type of toxin or chemical because he was no longer being exposed to it and all of a sudden the transfusions were working. During this time we were getting you up in chairs and working on eating/swallowing ice chips and working on speech. You got your NG tube taken out and a permanent feeding tube placed in your stomach. They also did find a nodule in your lung that they were keeping an eye on. They did do a same day procedure to test this nodule to make sure it was not cancerous. It came back non cancerous, so the plan was to just keep an eye on it.

In February our dad aspirated and was back in the ICU being intubated, sedated and on a ventilator. We were so scared this was going to be such a huge set back from all of the progress he had made. He recovered so quickly from this and was discharged from the hospital to a rehab facility not even a week later. We got to the rehab facility and we were doing some amazing work, I spent the 1st three days by my dads side there and got to learn all your exercises and feed you. I went home and 3 days later got a call that our dad aspirated and was being transported to the hospital, my dad and I both got covid from the facility, but my dad also got mrsa pneumonia. He was back to being intubated, sedated, and on a ventilator. We had many visits with the doctors about hospice, but we were not ready to give up, We knew our dad was such a fighter. He had been through so much, He was so strong. Our dad stayed in the hospital for 3 1/2 weeks this time after only being at the rehab facility for 1 week and 1 day. We don't think he was ready to leave Harborview but insurance was going to stop paying for him because they thought he was ready. After our dad got released from the hospital we got him into a long-term facility. He needed time to heal from the mrsa pneumonia and covid and aspiration, so we did long term care until he would get better and then our goal was to get his skull put back on let him heal from that and then go into rehab again.

Long term care. My dad arrived at the facility, and we got him all settled in his new room, and he was back in the hospital that night, high blood pressure, elevated heart rate and dehydration from the long day. Traveling days really wore our dad out and were hard on him. Over the next 3 months our dad continued to only be stable for 1 to 3 weeks at a time before getting a fever and being transported to the hospital to being hospitalized again. Each time he as admitted it was a different internal infection that needed stronger and stronger antibiotics for longer periods of time, The doctors continued to have the hospice talk with us because they were so worried about his heart stopping, Ulcers, and infections that would kill him. We just wanted to reach our goal of getting his skull put back on for his brain to heal so we could get him better. He was supposed to get his skull put back on May 8th but got admitted for another mrsa infection and swollen lymph nodes in his neck and missed his surgery. We were hoping to get him better and get his surgery rescheduled. On May 16th at 1:56 in the morning I got a call that the nurse heard you coughing, and my dad started to vomit but she caught him in time and he aspirated again and was being transported to the hospital. Thankfully the nurse heard my dad and turned him to his side quick enough he did not have a bunch of fluid in his lungs and did not need to be intubated again. His lungs were just a little swollen from the coughing/choking. The doctor called me that next day and said that my dad's labs were all over the place and his WBC was significantly high and they were worried about leukemia or lymphoma, I asked if there were any tests they could do to check for that and they said yes and explained the tests to me. Not even 2 hours later did the doctor call me and tell me that yes my dad has leukemia. They did not know what type yet or how aggressive this was but they would do more tests and let me know. On Sunday we found out my dad has Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. My sisters and I were devastated. We felt my dad had come so far and worked so hard for him to just have cancer now, but we knew our dad was weak and tired. He has been through so much these past 6 months. Yesterday we sat down with the oncologist and the hospitalist my dad is too weak to get any cancer treatment, his body won't be able to handle it. His cancer is terminal and growing rapidly. He continues to get fevers and every day slowly going down. My dad is in pain and uncomfortable and he has put up a long hard fight.

God has saved my dad so many times he is such a miracle. My dad is now on hospice and only has a few days to maybe week left to live. He is a true definition of a fighter. He is loved by so many; He could light up a room with his eyes and smile. He always had the best attitude. We ask for all of your love and prayers during this very hard time for me and my sisters and our whole family that is accepting what is happening.

My sisters and I are also asking for your help for our dad's funeral, the casket, to help pay for my dad's bills, and to help us with a lawyer because we will have to go to probate. Thank you for the love and support and continued prayers.