We are starting this GoFundMe for Scott Berthiaume. The fundraising will help with monthly expenses as Scott slowly recovers. Scott has been battling sepsis pneumonia. He spent time in the hospital, part of it in intensive care. The pulmonologist said it could take a minimum of 4-6 weeks before symptoms start getting better.

Unbeknownst to us, this all started back in September. We didn’t realize at the time that this is what it was. He was first having pain in the rib cage. Scott thought he may have strained some muscles around the ribs. And, there was pain in the right shoulder and back. He went to his doctor, and he did an x-ray. No cracked ribs. There was pain in the front of his chest near the sternum. The doctor thought maybe acid reflux. An upper GI was scheduled. He went into the hospital a few days before this appointment. The hospital recommended canceling the upper GI because of the lung infection. He spent a couple of days there and came home with antibiotics. He was on them for three days with no improvement. He went to the ER late that week, and that’s when they found the lung infection had turned into sepsis pneumonia.

There hasn’t been any big relief for him now that he is home. He’s lost 30 pounds. He has no real appetite and spends most of his time in bed - even for Thanksgiving.

He has been in a lot of pain. The infection was massive, covering his whole right lung and inside the rib cage. The inflammation has moved into the shoulder and shoulder blade. He still has a hard time breathing. He nebulizes three times a day and takes a variety of antibiotics. Coughing is a whole new level of pain, but necessary to get the infection out of the lung.

Being self-employed, we normally have a cushion set aside for the winter months. Not this year. Scott has not been able to work since the beginning of November. I took on a seasonal job, and that will be ending.

You never expect these kinds of things to happen…but life changes quickly. This was not easy for us to do. We’ve received some help from a few friends. We fell a little behind in November and are trying to catch up, plus look ahead into December and January.

That’s our story.

If you feel as though you could help financially, we humbly and graciously thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Sincerely,

Scott & Shelley Berthiaume

p.s. The pictures we are attaching show Scott now and the other when he was a healthy papa.