Support Larry Baker's Road to Recovery

On April 8, 2024, our father, Larry Baker, suffered a stroke. He was admitted to Monument Health Hospital in Rapid City, SD for four days before being admitted to a rehab hospital for rehabilitation. He was in the rehab hospital for eleven days and released on April 23rd. Unfortunately, he was re-admitted to Monument Health later that same day as the result of extreme weakness, high fever, another mild stroke along with other medical problems. He is currently at the hospital as of the writing of this fund raiser.

The strokes have left our dad with extreme left-sided weakness. His left hand is not and will never be fully functional. He requires the use of a walker now. He is extremely lucky that he is able to walk, talk and has use of his stronger, right side.

Of most concern though is he is in need of bypass surgery called an aortofemoral bypass. Dad's carotid arteries in his neck are blocked off by plaque and he is in need of stents but when they tried to do a procedure that required the doctors to put a probe in his femoral artery to travel to look at the carotids, they found that he is completely full of calcified plaque in both femoral arteries. This is causing restricted blood flow in his legs. They need to do this bypass which bypasses the diseased parts of his arteries and connects healthy arteries to his aorta which will return good blood flow to his legs. His recovery will take four to five months and after he heals, he will be able to do the surgery to place the stents in his carotids.

Dad will be released to a skilled nursing facility for rehabilitation and get strong enough for the chemical stress test he must do prior to his bypass surgery. It is unknown how long he will be at the skilled nursing facility.

Dad will need help with a wheelchair ramp, medical bill, and medical equipment required to stay safely at home. We are asking for donations as he will not be able to work and as we all know, medical expenses are outrageous, especially for adaptive equipment, medication not covered by medicare, costs not covered by medicare, etc. Dad's only source of income is his social security. He still needs to be able to use that income to maintain his home as well as his current monthly expense.

Our father is a strong-willed, proud man who always, always gave of himself to anyone who needed it or asked him. He has always been very generous, even going so far to forego his VA benefits because in his mind "Someone other vet needs it more than I do."

Most of all, we ask you to pray for him as we know God hears our petitions of prayer. NOTHING would mean more to my dad than to know you are praying for him.

All of the proceeds of this fundraiser will go directly to our dad to help pay for his current and future medical needs.

Thank you all for your support and for your prayers. We will update this fundraiser as things change.

Jodie Williamsen, Rick Baker, Corey Baker