Support for the Eilers family
Donation protected
We're asking for help for our dear friends and neighbors, the Eilers family. It's for expenses related to multiple, chronic and critical medical conditions that the father, Bill, and daughter, Riley, have both recently suffered from.
Riley, a 19 year old college student, has been suffering from a number of lifelong autoimmune diseases including: Type One Diabetes (she is currently on an insulin pump), Graves Disease (her thyroid gland doesn't work), and Celiac (can’t eat gluten). However, in May of this year, Riley became gravely ill and has not been able to eat any food at all since then. She was fitted with a feeding tube and that is how she has been surviving since then. She also has not been able to eliminate body waste.
Riley has been diagnosed with two chronic diseases;
1. AutoImmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy - (AAG) a rare autoimmune disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and damages certain parts of the autonomic nervous system. Paralyzing the esophagus, stomach and colon.
2. GastroParesis - a disorder of the digestive system in which the stomach cannot properly digest food and pass it on to the intestines and rejects food and water.
Riley has since been hospitalized six times since May, with several instances of an ambulance pulling up to the house because her feeding tube would come up, causing her to vomit and choke. Because of this, her feeding tube has now been surgically implanted and faces almost certain serious interventional procedures in the coming year.
Because Riley cannot eat or eliminate body waste properly - her diabetes has also become a critical, intensified, daily threat.
As all of this has been going on, her father Bill has been critically ill as well with hereditary advanced heart disease. Bill has been hospitalized seven times since 2018 – the most recent in late August 2020 for an angioplasty stent procedure.
He received open heart surgery (a quadruple bypass) in 2018, but had serious complications with the surgery. During the surgery, Bill had a rare reaction to the blood thinner used by the doctors and the reaction went undetected. He was ultimately sent home and as a result, had massive blood clots in his heart and lungs and the clots caused all of the bypass grafts (except one) to fail. Since then, he has been back and hospitalized six times - receiving over a dozen stents to keep his vascular system open.
From 2018 to present, Bill has been hospitalized for a total of 49 days and has received a total of 14 cardiac stents in six separate procedures, and will require aggressive and consistent care for the rest of his life.
April (wife and mom) continues to hold up the family. She serves our veterans at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis in her role as Photographer/Videographer chronicling veteran’s recoveries. Bill has fought hard to remain on his feet and fully employed since the quadruple bypass in 2018. He has worked full time since March of 2019, as a Supported Employment Teams Manager for Opportunity Partners, a non-profit agency serving adults with disabilities. Quinn (the oldest daughter), a nursing student, has stepped up by working during the school year, and in the summers, and has paid for nearly all of her own tuition for her nursing program during the family's hard times.
The family has been seriously burdened with scheduled and emergency hospital visits and is still playing catch up from ongoing medical emergencies. They will exceed their $20,000 out-of-pocket deductible in 2020 and expenses will continue to climb well into 2021 and beyond.
As I mentioned, this family would never ask for help from anyone and even though they are going through all of this, would do anything they could to be of help to someone else. They are some of the kindest, most thoughtful people we’ve ever met and we’re hoping that we can do something kind in return for them to help lessen the burden and stress that they are surely under.
Our goal is to raise at least $250,000 to be used for: past due and ongoing medical bills and out-of-pocket medical costs, prescription drugs, feeding tube supplies, and general life expenses that come with life-long chronic illnesses.
We thank you for taking the time to read their story and if you’re able to help in even the smallest of ways, we can show them they are loved and not alone in their fight.
We thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Carey & Shannon
Riley, a 19 year old college student, has been suffering from a number of lifelong autoimmune diseases including: Type One Diabetes (she is currently on an insulin pump), Graves Disease (her thyroid gland doesn't work), and Celiac (can’t eat gluten). However, in May of this year, Riley became gravely ill and has not been able to eat any food at all since then. She was fitted with a feeding tube and that is how she has been surviving since then. She also has not been able to eliminate body waste.
Riley has been diagnosed with two chronic diseases;
1. AutoImmune Autonomic Ganglionopathy - (AAG) a rare autoimmune disorder in which the body's immune system mistakenly attacks and damages certain parts of the autonomic nervous system. Paralyzing the esophagus, stomach and colon.
2. GastroParesis - a disorder of the digestive system in which the stomach cannot properly digest food and pass it on to the intestines and rejects food and water.
Riley has since been hospitalized six times since May, with several instances of an ambulance pulling up to the house because her feeding tube would come up, causing her to vomit and choke. Because of this, her feeding tube has now been surgically implanted and faces almost certain serious interventional procedures in the coming year.
Because Riley cannot eat or eliminate body waste properly - her diabetes has also become a critical, intensified, daily threat.
As all of this has been going on, her father Bill has been critically ill as well with hereditary advanced heart disease. Bill has been hospitalized seven times since 2018 – the most recent in late August 2020 for an angioplasty stent procedure.
He received open heart surgery (a quadruple bypass) in 2018, but had serious complications with the surgery. During the surgery, Bill had a rare reaction to the blood thinner used by the doctors and the reaction went undetected. He was ultimately sent home and as a result, had massive blood clots in his heart and lungs and the clots caused all of the bypass grafts (except one) to fail. Since then, he has been back and hospitalized six times - receiving over a dozen stents to keep his vascular system open.
From 2018 to present, Bill has been hospitalized for a total of 49 days and has received a total of 14 cardiac stents in six separate procedures, and will require aggressive and consistent care for the rest of his life.
April (wife and mom) continues to hold up the family. She serves our veterans at the VA Medical Center in Minneapolis in her role as Photographer/Videographer chronicling veteran’s recoveries. Bill has fought hard to remain on his feet and fully employed since the quadruple bypass in 2018. He has worked full time since March of 2019, as a Supported Employment Teams Manager for Opportunity Partners, a non-profit agency serving adults with disabilities. Quinn (the oldest daughter), a nursing student, has stepped up by working during the school year, and in the summers, and has paid for nearly all of her own tuition for her nursing program during the family's hard times.
The family has been seriously burdened with scheduled and emergency hospital visits and is still playing catch up from ongoing medical emergencies. They will exceed their $20,000 out-of-pocket deductible in 2020 and expenses will continue to climb well into 2021 and beyond.
As I mentioned, this family would never ask for help from anyone and even though they are going through all of this, would do anything they could to be of help to someone else. They are some of the kindest, most thoughtful people we’ve ever met and we’re hoping that we can do something kind in return for them to help lessen the burden and stress that they are surely under.
Our goal is to raise at least $250,000 to be used for: past due and ongoing medical bills and out-of-pocket medical costs, prescription drugs, feeding tube supplies, and general life expenses that come with life-long chronic illnesses.
We thank you for taking the time to read their story and if you’re able to help in even the smallest of ways, we can show them they are loved and not alone in their fight.
We thank you so much!
Sincerely,
Carey & Shannon
Organizer and beneficiary
Carey Masera
Organizer
Apple Valley, MN
Bill Eilers
Beneficiary