<div>Hello, my name is Vanessa and I'm a friend of Gary's, or Big G. I'm setting up the GoFundMe with his blessing as <strong>Gary had a health scare back on July 24th, 2025.</strong>

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<div>The days leading up to Big G going to the hospital, he was starting to find his new normal after having surgery on July 2nd. On Monday the 22nd, he expressed that he was having some pain up high on the left side. He was advised to go be seen, and chose the Big G way and didn't go. The pain increased over the next 36 hours. When he decided he had enough, he called his brother. When BG arrived, seeing Gary in an unstable state, he was then transported to Tacoma General by ambulance. They admitted him after finding a small opening at the top of his stomach which was causing the pain. During the night, his condition worsened. Around 5:30 am, he called and asked if I could come up as they were transferring him to ICU. He had become septic (the infection spread to the bloodstream).

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<div>When I arrived, BG was waiting to go in to see him. They had taken him to run some tests. When they allowed us in his room, Gary was not himself. He was slow to respond and was having trouble breathing. Within an hour, he was being taken to the OR. They placed a tracheotomy and a specialized internal wound vacuum called an endoluminal wound vacuum. Gary was under 100% sedation for 9 days. During that time, he had uncontrolled blood pressure, different vent setting changes to regulate his breathing, and even coded.

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<div>Day 10-15 was a lot of resting and visits from loved ones and close friends. The silence of Gary's voice was felt, but his strength to fight was loud. On Day 16, he was back in surgery having everything changed out with the hopes of it not having to be replaced. The tiny hole that started it all was showing signs of closing. Gary having a trach and being vent-dependent for so long, it was a daily battle to regulate his breathing on his own. On Day 20, his right arm started to have pain in it, as it is the arm with his PICC line. It was now swelling up. An ultrasound was done and a blood clot was found.

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<div>Day 21-36 went so fast as Gary gained his strength and was able to talk. Right away, he said, "I WANT TO GO HOME." Laying down so long weakened his legs, but that didn't stop him. He got to stand for the first time in over a month, demanded daily to sit in a chair, and he was now only using the ventilator at night. He was doing so well he was transferred on August 30th to Kindred Hospital in Seattle. There, they removed the trach and had one PT workout. Let's just say being that far from his support circle was taking a toll on his recovery. He was transferred again to Alaska Gardens in Tacoma on September 4th, started physical therapy daily with a walker, and was finally released home on September 18th.

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<div>We are all grateful that he is home, but his recovery is going to be ongoing and costly. <strong>Asking for funds to give him peace of mind as he continues to heal at home.</strong> A lot of people have reached out and asked what they can do to help during this time. <strong>Here is a way to help.</strong>

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Anonymous

Helena Bembry

Devon Singleton

Felise Leonard

Roxanne Lomeli

Darrell Holloway

Amanda Garcia

Michelle Mackner

Arthur Robinson

Trenton Howard

Keisha Maldonado

Support Gary's Journey to Full Recovery

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Eligible for Profile Comment Badge

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

isEligibleForProfileCommentBadge

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

categoryGroup

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support Gary's Journey to Full Recovery

Still $4,640 to go. Help us build momentum.