Support Travis and family-Seventh Spine Surgery

Hi. I'm Shannon Buchanan. I'm Trav's wife and the boys' ma. My husband, Travis, is a rough-around-the-edges, good old boy from Wisconsin. I met him 25 years ago and husband'd him quick--blue eyes, blond hair, tan, and fit from pouring concrete, when he showed me the pictures of his twin boys that first night, I didn't stand a chance.

In our 25 years, we have enjoyed raising our four boys, the youngest of whom is now 16. They have seen different phases of their dad's disabling condition, and all have seen him post-back-surgery multiple times.

Trav has had 6 back surgeries (that concrete life is rough). The most recent was a double fusion in 2021 at L3-4-5 and I will save the foreshadowing and come out and say we are now preparing for a seventh, with a promise of an eighth "sometime" down the road.

Here is an image of the hardware from the other day, it is looking good!

Trav has titled me his "hospital buddy" and it must be true that we have spent more time together in a hospital than a vast majority of people. We are blessed to be one another's support person, but this past September we welcomed Murphy James into our family. He is a rescue dog from Oklahoma, by way of Wisconsin, and has made such a positive impact in our world. Travis gained strength in his ankles through walking him and was able to temporarily stop using his cane to walk.

There were two falls in those first few weeks of raising Murphy. I had to leave for a week to go work in Las Vegas (which ended up being more of an expense in the long run, thanks to Covid). We can't know if the falls caused a disc to shift, or if it was just an inevitable event.

Travis has been in increasing severe pain since December. It has continued to worsen and led to new imaging. MRIs, CTs, and XRays have been taken and reviewed. The surgeon sees issues above AND below the double fusion.

At the lower level, L5-S1, he has had prior multiple interventions at this level, discectomy, laminectomy, going back to the 1990s, and it has no disc height, essentially, remaining. The MRI notes said severe a few times. There is also gas visible in the space indicating instability.

Look at these behind the scene shots:

Above the double fusion, there is a severe impingement of the nerve root, which is likely paired with the severe pain that Trav is experiencing. He has been unable to walk more than a very short distance for several months.

In addition to all this, he is recovering from a heart attack this past December, which we have begun receiving medical bills for, but have been unable to pay.

We are waiting for the insurance approval and the surgery date.

We are reaching out and hope to raise funds to pay our monthly bills while he is recovering, and to cover expenses related to medical costs.

Thank you for hearing our story!!