Walter to some, Harvey to others. Husband, father, grandpa and friend.

In the beginning of October, Walter and family knew something was not right. He had woken up with minimal ability to swallow or talk and was experiencing facial droop. With fear of stroke, he hurried to the hospital. Much to everyone’s surprise, he was not having a stroke and it wasn’t until a week later that he and family found out that he has an autoimmune disorder known as Myasthenia Gravis. This diagnosis was just the beginning of what has turned into a long battle. While in the hospital, Walter experienced a code requiring resuscitation, multiple intubations, a PEG tube placement, and a tracheostomy. As each day brought a new obstacle, Walter’s body continued to weaken which left him bedbound for close to 4 weeks.

With the help of the wonderful staff at St.Vincent Healthcare and Advanced Care Hospital, Walter has spent each day working tirelessly to get back to where he was before this diagnosis.

With time and treatments, Walter has been able to make a significant improvement from where he started and our hope is that he continues to improve with further therapies and time. The family, doctors and nursing staff all believe that being surrounded by loved ones on a daily basis up until now has significantly helped his morale and healing. Our hope is to continue this going into this next chapter of medical care.

Unfortunately for Walter and his family, the state of Montana doesn’t have a facility that is able to further assist with his needs at this time. He was flown to a skilled nursing facility in Roy, Utah on December 2nd, 2024 to continue working with speech therapy and try to wean him off the ventilator permanently. The use of the ventilator is the only thing holding him back from coming home to his family. Our hopes are that with this use of these therapies, he is able to get off the ventilator and the trach is able to be removed.

His insurance will pay for his stay for a couple of months and then it will be out of pocket from there. It will be crucial for family and friends to be able to visit him as much as possible during his stay to help with his mental well being and continued physical healing. With that, we are reaching out to our friends and family to ask for donations to help with costs related to Walter’s care. These donations will help with further medical bills that insurance won’t cover and travel related costs for his family to travel to and from Utah including gas/rentals. Any and all help, donations and thoughts are deeply appreciated from the family.