Tony Mitchell & Medical Emergency

My name is April Parker. I have known and loved this family for almost 9 years as a Senoia person and someone connected to Eastside Elementary. What Tony and the Mitchell Family have and are about to go through is unimaginable. Unexpected medical bills, surgery, amputation of part of his leg and months of missing work would be hard for any of us. Tony is fighting for his life and his surgery on April 26th is very, very serious. Please consider reading more of their story. Please pray for Tony's health and recovery and consider blessing them in this difficult finical hardship. 

When Tony was  7, he was accidentally shot while hunting. The doctors were unable to save his leg and it had to be amputated below the knee. He is still very passionate about hunting, fishing, and being outdoors and has never let his injury keep him from doing the things he loves and working VERY hard every day to provide for his family.
  Tony and his wife Cassie (A teacher at Eastside) have been married for 17 years and have 3 beautiful girls. Off and on through the years, he has had issues with his amputation and prosthetic that have been easily managed. However, for the last year or so there have been infections in his amputated leg that have continued to get worse. 

The last 4 months have been a steady increase in infection and open wounds. He has been on steady antibiotics for over 2 months and the infection has gotten worse. The infection has now spread into the bone causing a very serious bone infection and it is continuing to spread. The bacteria have actually "eaten" holes in the bone.
Tony requires surgery as soon as possible in order to save as much of his leg as they can and his life! The trauma surgeon will operate April 26th as of right now to clean out the infection. Unfortunately, because the infection has now spread to the bone and the bacteria are eating the bone pretty rapidly, the doctor will also have to amputate more of his leg. Tony, as well as the trauma surgeon, is trying to avoid amputation above the knee if at all possible. We are praying that the surgery and amputation on the 26th will get rid of the bacteria eating the bone and stop the infection. There will be infectious disease doctors working with the surgeon during and after the surgery to determine the best plan of action. He will be in the hospital 3-4 days and will come home on pic line antibiotics for 6 weeks. He will be out of work for at least 2- 3 months while recovering. 

As anyone can imagine, 3 months without pay is a very stressful situation. The severe extra medical expenses, with no income, out of pocket health insurance premiums, and more, on top of day to day life with 3 kids and meeting their needs is so overwhelming!

This medical emergency hit at a time when things were already extremely tight for Tony and his family! Not only are they dealing with Tony's serious health issues but his wife has also been recently diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that is requiring treatment as well. The physical, emotional, and financial toll this is taking is far beyond what they can handle alone. Through all of this, they continue to work and do as much part time work as they can to just try and make ends meet. But, the decrease in pay and upcoming no pay for months is not making day to day ends meet and certainly not going to make ends meet for the upcoming months.

Prayers, love, support, kind words, or however you are led to help are appreciated more than you will ever know!