Support Kirk, Shilo & Family in Kirk's Medical Battle

As you may be aware, Kirk has been in the hospital since Saturday, 4/19. After 10 days in Kalispell’s Logan Health Medical Center, he and wife Shilo caught a specially chartered Alert flight to Spokane’s Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center this afternoon, 4/28. Their sons J & P are being cared for by family and what we covet most are your prayers.

Shilo has FMLA coverage that will allow her to use accrued vacation and then sick time, while remaining employed and continuing to accrue benefits. Family members plan to drive her car over to her some time this week so she has transportation. Unfortunately, Kirk is currently in a double room, which means Shilo cannot stay at the hospital, and has to leave by 8pm, so she is looking at a hotel stay for an undetermined amount of time. As far as medical bills go, Shilo hasn’t yet seen all of the bills from the last hospital stay in March, but imagines they’ve already hit their deductible, and are into their coinsurance. She believes they’re looking at about $8k for their maximum out-of-pocket.

For a rundown of the past 10 days leading up to today’s transfer to Spokane, and for updates moving forward, please visit Kirk’s CaringBridge site: https://www.caringbridge.org/site/706f7624-24b2-11f0-aad8-798b72dbd8df?utm_source=website_share&utm_medium=share_button&utm_term=&utm_content=link_share_button&utm_campaign=private_home_page

Kirk’s medical struggles began in his early 20s when he was diagnosed with lupus, which was thought to be managed well on a few meds until 2014, when he was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis from the lupus. He has worked to manage that for the past 10 years. In late 2022, Kirk was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver, and was facing the very real potential of needing a liver transplant. He has rocked sobriety for almost 2½ years and his body has worked hard to do some serious healing of his liver, to the point that he was told he no longer needed a transplant – praise the Lord! Kirk has continued to face other complications, most significantly relating to his gallbladder. Unfortunately, while for most people a gallbladder removal would be a pretty straight forward surgery, for Kirk it is considered high-risk because of his liver, so medical staff here in Kalispell has been reluctant to pursue it. The local surgeon explained it today as … Kirk’s body has been working really hard to heal his liver. Unfortunately, with this gall bladder issue cropping up, his body has turned all its focus onto dealing with the gallbladder, and in doing so has neglected his liver, so now it’s in trouble again. With a MELD score of 15, patients are looking at being placed on the transplant list; Kalispell put Kirk at a 17. Hopefully, as the infection clears up, Kirk’s MELD score will drop.