Support Randy Lebel's Fight Against Guillain-Barré Syndrome

My uncle Randy Lebel is just a young 55-year-old energetic guy who loves camping, playing horseshoes, corn hole, billiards, spending time with his wife Kathy and their dog, Charlie. He also loves being around friends and family - the ones that mean the most to him and his wife, Kathy Lebel. Recently, Randy came down with a cold which escalated to a severe sinus infection. After 3 weeks of suffering, he was seeking answers to an absolute unknown. He then found out his cold/sinus infection has migrated into a rare autoimmune illness, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which has several variants. The variant that has been the biggest hurdle has been Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS) which has also affected him: a rare variant that causes paralysis in the eyes. Because of this, he’s lost feeling in his limbs, can’t feed himself, can’t walk (in a wheel chair), and can’t bathe himself. Symptoms of MFS include weakness or paralysis of the eye muscles, and difficulty swallowing or speaking. He can’t even go to the bathroom by himself.

I’ll preface this by saying, anyone that knows Randy knows he would NEVER ask anyone for help or a handout. However, they do need the financial help to make this fight a little less stressful. I’m asking for your help, we are asking for your help. The rest of his family and friends can see the struggle and pain Randy and Kathy are going through and what a financial hardship this has caused for them. Kathy, as any wife would, has since taken leave from work to care for Randy just to complete simple daily tasks. Both are living on very little income. As we all know, it’s expensive to live today. This money would go toward paying monthly bills, deductibles (roughly $6k), gas, co-pays, food, and any other expenses they are destined to endure. We are talking about a perfectly healthy 55-year-old one day and virtually paralyzed the next. Some would say this is too young to experience such a tragic illness. An illness that’s described by doctors as a 1 in a 1,000,000.

To give you some perspective on what they’ve been through, Randy spent 3 weeks bedridden, couldn’t work, so he’s been out of work for quite some time. Follow that with being hospitalized at UVM Medical Center for 8 days. Now he’s at the Rehabilitation Therapy Center - Fanny Allen (UVM) for an undisclosed amount of time, suffering to feel his limbs again or see in order to complete simple daily tasks. Doctors are preparing them because it’s going to get worse before it gets better. They should also be prepared for the long haul before this turns around. Because it’s such a rare illness, they don’t have a timeline, but have been told it could be a year or more before things get better. Randy and Kathy are in need of your help. We would be forever grateful for your donation with whatever you can contribute. Thank you and God bless you all!