The Wedgewood Family

Hello, we are friends of the Wedgewood's. Our names are Megan and Marlena. We have created this Go Fund Me account to help the Wedgewood's out during this very difficult time. For those of you that are not aware, Mike had many tests run over the summer and was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). ALS has no cure and is a type of motor neuron disease that damages the motor nerves, which are cells required for movement. It causes the muscles to lose nutrition and over time the muscles lose their bulk mass and get small and weak. The muscles will eventually harden and no longer be movable. ALS is a muscle wasting disease. Eventually, patients with ALS can lose the ability to walk, talk, use their hands, swallow and breathe. The disease started in Mike's hands. As time progresses, his hands will get worse and then the disease will spread to the rest of his body. It is hard to say how fast his disease progression will be or how long Mike has to live. It is different for each ALS patient. Because of this, Mike has decided, along with his doctors, to come home and spend what time he does have left with Amanda and their kids. Mike has worked hard to support his family. Unfortunately, his job requires the use of his hands for 12 hours a day. If he were to continue to work, he would end up overusing his hands. The muscles in his hands are already affected and the overuse would cause the muscles to not be able to repair and could progress the disease in his hands more rapidly. Mike's last day of work was September 29th, 2022. We are setting up the GO FUND ME account to help with medical expenses, living expenses, gas to and from medical appointments to the city and to help the Wedgewood's financially as they await disability for Mike to come in. This process can be long and so we would like for them to have a few months of income taken care of to help with some of the stress as they prepare for the future.