My name is Stacy and I was Melodie’s coworker at Albertsons for the past 15 years. She worked for Albertsons since 1992. If you ever shopped at our store, I’m sure you had talked to her, probably about fishing or hunting or just life.
Melodie learned in March 2022 that the cause of a suite of mysterious symptoms she’d been dealing with starting in August 2021 was Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ALS (also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease) -an inexorably debilitating, ultimately fatal disease. This leads to progressive weakness and disability. People living with ALS eventually lose their strength, the ability to move their arms, legs, and body, and the ability to breathe on their own. In most cases, their minds remain sharp and alert.
The average life expectancy for people with ALS is 2 to 5 years. However, ALS is a variable disease that progresses at different rates for different people.
It has been a fast, yet long road for Melodie.
At the time of her diagnosis, she was working full-time. Only a couple months after, she had to stop working. She has lost almost all her fine motor skills and her body gets weaker with each week that goes by. She requires full time assistance for all her everyday tasks.
Melodies husband Gary is about 5 years into his Train Conductor Career. Even with the experience of 5 years, he is still on an on-call board. His schedule changes everyday and he never knows for sure when he's working or not. He can also be gone for days at a time. She has 3 boys. Tyler (youngest) is working on becoming an electrician and is dating Stacey. Stacey is a Veterinary assistant. They live at home with Mel and Gary.
Joey and Dave both have careers in IT and do not live at home.
Medical insurance so far has covered a lot of expenses, however it does not cover a in home caregiver.
Kari, Mel’s daughter in law stepped up to the plate and took a leave of absence from her Elementary School teaching career and has been taking care of her. However, in August, Kari will have to go back to work.
After absorbing rising costs for the past year since her diagnosis, Melodie will also soon be losing her medical insurance and the medical and in-home care expenses facing her are staggering. Even more emotionally difficult for Melodie than her own prospect is her distress over how these skyrocketing expenses will impact her loved ones.
There is no way to know how long Melodie will live, and she is committed to fighting this awful disease but the uncertainty and mounting financial stress are further undermining her health.
This is why, as her friends and former colleagues we are working now to raise an initial $50,000 to help ensure she gets the care she needs and the peace of mind to prepare and plan for what’s coming.
Melodie’s incredible capacity for caring and giving has been a hallmark of her life. On behalf of all of us who love her, thank you in advance for anything that you can contribute to support Melodie and her family through this challenging time.
Any support is greatly appreciated and no amount is too small. Even if you can just give a share or some supporting words to Mel.
If you would rather donate directly to Melodie & Gary, please do via Venmo.
Her account is @Melodie-Gulbranson
Thank you all & God Bless ♥️
