A few of us close to Levi are coming together to support him during a serious and ongoing health crisis. - Ashley Smith, Marc Fearney, Patience Smith, Abi Shaffer, Marie Morris, Shayla Chiaverini, Elizabeth Welch, Bernie Blanks and Brent Barrett

Over the past four years, Levi’s health has steadily declined in ways that have been difficult to diagnose and even harder to live with. It began in 2022 with unexplained symptoms that led to doctor after doctor, with no clear answers. During that time, he was prescribed many rounds of antibiotics, which ultimately caused significant damage to his gut and overall health.

By late 2023, things became much more severe. Levi began experiencing daily symptoms that include going to the bathroom 10+ times a day, often with significant blood loss. This went on for an entire year while he continued doing everything he could to push through and function, and he continues to have these flare ups on a daily basis.

After many ER visits and a few hospital stays, he was eventually diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis. He tried several treatments without success and is now on a new medication that is finally showing some promise, but his body is still under extreme strain. The past two months, things escalated. Levi ended up in the ER a few times, and had his fourth colonoscopy/endoscopy where doctors found that in addition to everything else, he has severe diverticulosis, an active, painful flare of diverticulitis, hernias, benign tumors, and more. The diseases all need different treatments that conflict with each other - making the true journey to good health a long hard road.

For the last three years, he has been living in survival mode, spending much of his time in bed, physically depleted, and doing everything he can just to get through each day. From the outside, it may not always look as serious as it is. Levi has grown accustomed to living with chronic disease and always seems to know how to keep it together. Levi has done everything he can to keep going, to work when possible and maintain some level of normalcy, but the reality is that his condition makes it extremely difficult to sustain any kind of consistent work or income.

The constant pain, urgency, and exhaustion have taken a serious toll. Right now, the priority is giving Levi’s body a real chance to heal. He has a new Specialist and a new goal. There's 2 months until his next colonoscopy and to see if the biologic he's on (skyrizi) has brought him into remission. So for the next two months, Levi must focus on his health, reduce inflammation, and break the cycle of ongoing flare-ups.

We’re a small group of close friends organizing this on Levi’s behalf, because right now he’s not in a position to do it himself. After nearly four years of chronic pain, sickness and disease, we all feel it’s time to ask for some help. Thank you for taking the time to read this and for any support you can give.

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