Support Garrett overcome Viral Meningitis

Hello, and thank you for coming to check out our go fund me for Garrett Mealer. My name is Jennie, and I am Garrett's girlfriend. Along with a few of Garrett's friends, we are creating this page to help with his medical bills from battling viral meningitis.

For those who know Garrett, he is constantly doing things for others and is always willing to help. He is also a man of God and would quite literally give the shirt off his back if someone needed it more. Putting others consistently before himself, we know he would never ask for help like this, but as I have learned, sometimes it takes a village to overcome life's challenges.

In short, Garrett has been in and out of the hospital over the last 4 weeks after collapsing at work and received a diagnosis of Viral Meningitis. While he is on the mend, he has raked up some hefty medical bills in addition to unpaid time off from work to recover. Anything you can do to help support is greatly appreciated! If you cannot financially support, we would be so grateful for your prayers.

In length, In the beginning of December, Garrett started experiencing flu like symptoms. He went to the doctor and did as prescribed, taking over-the counter medicine, pumping fluids and getting lots of rest.

On Wednesday, December 13, he woke up with a slight headache but went to work as usual. While at work, he started experiencing numbness in his legs which soon progressed to his entire body causing him to collapse. The temporary paralysis impacted his ability to speech and luckily, his co-workers acted quickly calling 911. Garrett then went into a state of delirium where he couldn't remember where he was, simple information about himself and was rushed to the emergency room at St. Vincent's.

The medical care team took quick action running lots of tests, scans and eventually a spinal tap which confirmed that Garrett had viral meningitis. He was transferred from the ER to the Medical Intensive Care Unit where he stayed for two days to recover.

We all felt incredibly blessed, and prayers were answered for his diagnosis and speedy recovery, but little did we know, this was not the end of his meningitis journey.

On Thursday, December 28th, Garrett and I were flying back from NY to Birmingham. After landing in the Atlanta airport, walking to our next gate, Garrett started experiencing numbness in his legs. Similar to his first episode, the numbness spread throughout his entire body which impaired his ability to move and speak. Fortunately, his body recovered quicker with the numbness only last about an hour, but it was soon followed by extreme delirium and vomiting. Upon returning to Birmingham, we went back to the ER where doctors confirmed this is just a continuum of the viral meningitis working through his body. After a few days of medicine and rest, he returned back to work the following Tuesday.

On Thursday, January 4th, Garrett yet again experienced numbness and vomiting at work and as instructed by the doctors from our last visit, he returned to the ER. Luckily, his recovery has improved more quickly after each episode.

As you can imagine, the scariness of being unable to control his body and the frustration of a month-long battle has taken a bit of an emotional toll on himself as well as family and friends. We still remain feeling very fortunate that Garrett is on the mend and acknowledge it could still have been much worse.

Garrett recently received his medical bills and with great care, comes great cost. In addition to his medical bills, Garrett also had to take two weeks of unpaid time off to recover. While $7,500 won't cover it all, it will help a tremendous amount to the financial stress this all has caused.

Thank you for taking the time to read about his battle and we appreciate any support you can provide.

God bless,

Jennie