Support the Frey Family's Medical Journey with MELAS

Hello! This gofundme was started to provide support for the Frey Family - a family who is near and dear to so many of our hearts. For those of you who don't know Emi's story, I would like to speak on the journey this family has been on over the last two years.

In May of 2023, Ty and Cathy's youngest child, Emi, was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease called MELAS at just four years old. MELAS affects the mitochondria, mutating them, and interferes with the body's ability to create cellular energy. The result of this is seizures, lactic acidosis, and encephalopathy - all of which have their own secondary effects such as strokes, brain lesions, cognitive delays, dementia - and the list goes on. Emi has been affected by all of these things and more, over the past two years, and has spent far too many days in the hospital combating the effects of this horrible disease. Sadly, there is no cure for MELAS and the amount of time they have left with Emi is unknown. As Ty so eloquently wrote in Emi's Caring Bridge: There is a daunting fear of the future, knowing we will have to witness a heartbreaking inevitability. We are mourning the loss of someone who is still with us. Really, we are mourning the loss of a future we unconsciously feel we are owed.

Regardless of the loss and devastation this family is experiencing, they have continued to place their faith and hope in Jesus. Their constant search for God's peace in the midst of trauma and suffering, remains. They have chosen to fight the odds, step out vulnerably and with courage into a future that is unknown, and hold tight to the assurance that God's mercies never end. Through this lens, they have continued to watch Emi grow, where day to day moments are treasured gifts and little or big wins are the direct result of God's grace and mercy. As many of us have witnessed, their steadfast love for each other and their creator is nothing short of inspirational.

Which brings me back to the reason for starting a gofundme for the Frey family: for so many of us close to them, there is an unyielding desire to want to help in a tangible, financial way.

And in all honesty, instead of saying "yes" to a gofundme, Ty and Cathy have finally just stopped saying "no" :)

So with that being said, the money from this gofundme would provide financial support for the many out-of-pocket nutritional supplements and medication Emi needs to take daily to ebb the effects of this disease. It would help pay for medical devices, such as a wheelchair, that would make life easier for Emi's day to day since she is getting weaker and more unsteady on her feet. It would provide some financial peace for Ty and Cathy as they balance the load of being working parents of two children, while also needing to take time off to be at Emi's bedside during her numerous hospitalizations. This gofundme would diminish the unfair, nagging choice that constantly has to be made for those who have chronically ill children, which is, "Do I go to work or do I go unpaid in order to be at my child's side while they go through x, y, z."

And most importantly, this gofundme would show the Frey's that God works in so many beautiful ways, and sometimes that's through the hands of the community that surrounds them.

When time with someone you love is moving faster than you'd hoped and the line between life and afterlife seems so thin, when all you can do is live moment to moment and savor every second with your child, that is where we as a community have the opportunity to meet them. Let us take the unnecessary worries off their plate, let us bear that for them, as it is the very least we can do.

"So speak encouraging words to one another. Build up hope so you'll all be together in this, no one left out, no one left behind. I know you're already doing this; just keep on doing it." 1 Thessalonians 5:11 MSG

Thank you for all of your donations, prayers, and unending support. I know it means the world.

~Steph