Greetings, many people have asked me about doing a GoFundMe to help with financial expenses for taking care of my father, Fred, while he is on hospice. Some of you may have been following his story on my TikTok, where I discuss his journey and the challenges of caring for your parent when they are on hospice and desire to pass away at home with loved ones.

Backstory about my father: In 2019, my mother died unexpectedly in my Dad’s arms at home. They were married for 47 years. The following June, Dad had a major heart attack that almost ended his life. He needed an immediate triple bypass. He survived his triple bypass, but then other problems began to surface. He learned he had blockages in the main arteries in his legs. He had over 14 non-invasive procedures in an attempt to stent open his legs. The cardiologists determined that he has a life-threatening heart condition called P.A.D (Peripheral Artery Disease), which is a serious circulatory condition where plaque builds up in the arteries that carry blood away from the heart to other parts of the body, most commonly the legs and feet. They were unable to fix the problem with stents, and then my Dad had a second heart attack. He had to have a double bypass to fix his heart again. He survived surgery again, and the left leg began to lose circulation completely. They decided to do a femoral bypass and sent him home with an infection prematurely from the hospital, which caused his femoral artery to rupture on me at home. He lost six pints of blood and flatlined four times on the way to the hospital. At this juncture, his leg was dead, and he needed an emergency leg amputation. At the same time, they discovered he had a tumor on the dome or tip of his liver and in his bottom left lung. The liver could not be biopsied because of the location of the tumor. They assumed it was cancer that could not be treated because he would not heal from chemotherapy or radiation due to his fragile state. Dad was placed into a medically induced coma after a successful amputation, but he was not waking up. Within days of having to make a decision on ending his life, he woke up, and they were able to get him off the ventilator. Dad spent almost a year in the hospital and six months in rehabilitation at the Mary Free Bed Institute at the University of Michigan Hospital. He learned how to live life with one leg and was determined to get a prosthetic limb. Unfortunately, the right leg began to develop the same problem with a blockage, but by this point, Dad had so many surgeries and his body was in such a fragile state, they could not operate on him. He had several small strokes or TIAs and brain damage from being in the coma; in addition to that, the tumor on the liver and an even more weakened heart. He was placed on hospice and moved into my home because he could no longer live alone, and his home was not wheelchair safe. His dreams of getting a prosthetic leg were shattered when he discovered he would have to pay his portion of over $6k to get a new leg. At that juncture, his other leg was already too weak, and he had been in a wheelchair too long to be able to stand on a prosthetic. This was devastating to my Dad. In addition, he was being hounded by creditors for medical bills, and because of being in the hospital, he became grossly behind on his bills. He went into significant debt to the point of having nothing left in his personal retirement. I’m the oldest sibling and the only one with the medical background to care for him, so I moved him in with me. For a while, he was independent and okay enough so that I could still go to work. I worked in healthcare administration, and I had a good job. Unfortunately, Dad began to decline more and more. He was losing cognitive function and could not be left alone after he had his first major stroke. I had no PTO time left or FMLA time to take to be home with him, and the company I worked for, for a considerable number of years, fired me. I went through what savings I had to live on very quickly, and then I had to cash out my 401K. I’m now completely broke, despite efforts to continue selling my art online to make money at home. I’m deeply in debt because I let my bills go without any income. So far, I’m behind on property taxes by $2100, and I don’t have the money to pay for basic needs like heat, utilities, and food to sustain us. Dad is now in liver failure, and his only remaining leg is rotting from the toes up. He is continuing to have small strokes, and he is bed-bound a majority of the time, requiring my around-the-clock care. I have no way to sustain us financially, and this is a rough spot to be in. I know times are tough for everyone, and I’m not a person who typically would ever ask for help, but I’m humbly asking for anyone who can help with even the smallest donation, to please help us. My Dad just wants to pass away at home comfortably with his family and his dog. This is his final wish, and I’m trying my hardest to fulfill it for him with your help.