*** Update Below ***

January 5th, 2025.

It is with great sadness that I announce my mother, Wanda Goedereis, has passed away this evening at approximately 5:45 pm Pacific Coast time. Thank you for your prayers and love. She was loved by so many. I will have more to share soon. This fundraiser will now be used to help pay for her funeral expenses, her medical bills, and family expenses.

*** Original Post ***

My name is Joe Goedereis and I have started this fundraiser to help me pay for caregiver services for my mother, Wanda Goedereis, who is on hospice care. Here’s our story.

Three years ago, my mother was diagnosed with vascular dementia, a progressive disease with no cure or treatment. It is essentially brain damage caused by plaques that settle in the brain from multiple strokes or TIAs (transient ischemic attacks, or “mini strokes”). Much like Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia causes memory loss, cognitive decline, and dysfunction, and eventually, those diagnosed lose control of bodily function. They call this disease the long goodbye.

Mom was doing pretty well for someone who was 85 years old and dealing with this disease. She was able to bathe and dress herself, could feed herself, take care of her own toileting and personal needs, and could even walk around the house and the block.

All of that changed on September 13, 2024.

On that day, she underwent what was supposed to be a routine knee replacement surgery, and by all accounts, the surgery went well. She was up and walking on the new knee just 4 hours after completing the surgery, and her state of mind was great. However, due to negligence by hospital staff, my mother was injured in her hospital room when they attempted to move her from her bed to the bathroom. The nursing assistant didn’t follow the proper transfer procedure and used one person to do the transfer instead of the 2 required to move her. Consequently, she collapsed during the transfer and fell on the knee that had just been replaced 4 hours earlier. This ruptured and tore her patellar tendon away from her shin bone, and a second surgery was needed to repair the damage two days later. So, she went under anesthesia twice in a 48-hour period.

Ever since her surgeries, her dementia advanced rapidly, and she has been completely and totally incapacitated. She is totally bed-bound as she has not been able to rehabilitate her knee. She will likely never walk again. Mom now requires 24/7 care.

We are not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination, but we are also not impoverished enough to qualify for any programs like Medicaid, SNAP, or many of the state programs that could help because she makes too much income from her retirement pension. Unfortunately, that’s not enough to pay rent, bills, and for her care. On top of this, I had to quit my job to care for her full-time, and I cannot afford to pay for private caregivers, so I have been doing it all on my own. Hospice doesn’t provide in-home caregiver services for free, and it isn’t covered under her private insurance or by Medicare. If I could work, I could afford to pay for in-home caregivers, but I can’t work because all of my time is spent caring for her.

I am looking to raise enough funds to pay for in-home caregivers and to pay for the cost of eventually placing her in a memory care center (which costs about $12,000 a MONTH).

My mom is a beautiful and kind soul. She spent the majority of her life helping the poor and advocating for children as a County Director for the Missouri Division of Family and Children’s Services for more than 3 decades. She deserves to be able to die with dignity and have the best possible care to keep her comfortable.

Thank you for your consideration and your donation. If you are unable to donate, please help me out by sharing this story with your friends.

Thank you,

Joe Goedereis