Hey everyone!

My name is Ryan, Husband and father of five. I’m typically the DIY kind of person—something breaks… I fix it. I’m just not one to ask for help, but I just can’t swing this one on my own.

So, I'd like to tell you about my amazing wife Michelle and why she needs our help. Together, Michelle and I have been blessed with 5 WONDERFUL children. So, for the last decade, she’s been either pregnant or postpartum pretty much non-stop, while raising our growing number of little ones along the way.

Sometime after our second child, Ryker, she started to experience symptoms that, after a few doctors visits, we brushed off as ‘normal mom stuff’… Fast forward to another pregnancy and it all went away. Life was good! Then the summer after our third child, Rowan, she noticed in the summer heat her vision looked a little weird in one eye. She assumed she was just dehydrated or maybe needed to eat more, since breastfeeding took a good chunk of her nutrients, so we continued to blame it on ‘normal mom stuff’.. Summer ended and vision returned to normal, so nothing was done we thought it was gone for good. Then came our 4th child, River, everything was great, until it wasn’t. Extreme panic for zero reason with zero warning, months of vertigo. Eventually the vertigo stopped and the panic subsided, we discovered we were having our final child. Our grand finale, Baby Maeva, who came early but she was so strong and healthy! However, this time symptoms came on faster postpartum. Fast forward to summer and she couldn't even have a family day outside without her vision being very affected.

When Michelle could no longer make out characteristics on faces, see lights on cars, or stop & go lights, and colors started to look different, she made an eye doctor appointment. They found that her vision was fine, aside from a minor astigmatism. They referred her out to a specialist to check her optic nerve, good news, that was healthy too! This then led to a ton of blood work, which showed nothing concerning, so the final stop was an MRI. Which found numerous signal abnormalities, or lesions, in line with the McDonald criteria of Multiple Sclerosis. (MS)

When I opened that MRI Result, reading that she fits the criteria for multiple sclerosis, that hit HARD. Multiple sclerosis, with several demyelinating lesions… My blood ran cold. I know nothing about MS but nothing I’ve heard was good. So the Research begins, now we have a reason and it wasn’t normal at all.

For those of you that don’t know what MS is, it is a chronic disease within the central nervous system. Basically, the immune system attacks the protective layer on your nerves. This disrupts the signal, or flow of the information, being transported over the neurons. This then leads to a multitude of unpredictable symptoms like vision problems, balance, weakness, cognitive and mobility challenges.

For YEARS she’s been living with soo many things she shouldn’t have had to and we called it ‘normal mom stuff’. She’s had Panic attacks with no warning that impacted vision and sensation. Vertigo and lightheaded spells that came on every 3 minutes like clockwork… for MONTHS straight. Trouble finding words and saying them correctly. Fatigue… fatigue… and more fatigue. The inability to process busy surroundings and artificial lighting. Heat sensitivity… unable to spend a family day outside in heat over high 60's. This isn’t the life she imagined living, and I’ve been brushing it off as ‘normal mom stuff’ for years… Now I need to help her have more good days being a mom and less bad days full of symptoms like these.

Michelle is only 30, and right now she is still able to keep up with our wild, wonderful crew… but MS doesn’t stay silent. We’re already seeing pieces of her energy and cognitive function slipping away, and I won’t let this disease take the mother my kids adore, or her energy and livelihood living in fear that any day it could get worse, forever. She needs HOPE.

MS medications only, maybe, slow the disease progression, they do not stop it and they cannot fix what has already been damaged.. We've found a proven two part stem cell treatment that can do both, but it works best when performed early on. That's why it's critical we act quickly.

Her treatment slot is waiting. The only thing standing in the way is cost and time.

Total cost: ~ $40,000 and Insurance won’t cover any of it.

It’s December, we have Christmas presents and birthday gifts to buy on top of the daily expenses of running a household. I’m going to pick up every side job I can, if you know anyone looking to get some cameras installed.. but an extra $40,000 by Spring… I cannot realistically swing on my own.

What terrifies me the most is imagining our kids remembering a version of their mom defined by fatigue, pain, or mobility loss. I want them to remember the mom who plays in the yard, takes them hunting, dances in the kitchen, reads bedtime stories, and laughs until she cries. Not a slow decline of progressively worse symptoms.

So I’m here on GoFundMe asking this, from one parent to another, from one human to another… please help us give Michelle the chance to stay the mom she is today.

Anything and everything helps. A dollar, a share on social media, or even a referral to a friend that might need some cameras installed.

Any money raised over what it takes to get Michelle’s treatment will be donated to help the next mom who’s symptoms were brushed of as ‘normal mom stuff’.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for reading this, thank you for sharing, and thank you for giving my wife a fighting chance to stay the mom she is today.

With love and gratitude... with everything we have,

Ryan, Michelle and our 5 reasons to fight