Help for Conor Campaign

This past February, our friend Conor McIntyre suffered a tragic injury to his knee while working on his Indiana farm.  After the initial surgery to rebuild his leg, he suffered an infection from a rare, aggressive bacteria.  While attempting to treat the bacterial infection, Conor began suffering from symptoms akin to Transient Ischemic Attacks (TIAs), or mini-strokes.

In total, Conor has experienced 17 of these occurrences and has sustained noticeable difficulty with his speech, lingering numbness beneath his left eye, and below average short term memory.  A third surgery was performed in an attempt to eradicate the infection at the surgery site.  

As of May 14, Conor is back home, but he is very limited in his movement and is still experiencing pain when he moves his leg.  Twelve steps with a walker to the restroom and twelve steps back has been his longest daily journey.  He is starting to move around more with a fully locked brace.  Conor is still having erratic neurological concerns that are being monitored but challenging to create a definitive prognosis towards recovery.  

Navigating through the various stages of infection, doctors, referrals, opinions, hypothesis, prognosis, medicines, procedures, and proposed treatments has been challenging.  The family's medical bills have been mounting and continue to grow exponentially.  The money raised in this campaign would go to assist with Conor's medical expenses and for the McIntyre family. 

Arguably as daunting as the medical expenses is the list of mounting unfinished projects at Solsberry Hill, the McIntyre family's farm and retreat center.  Any funds raised above our goal will go toward completing these projects Conor can no longer complete himself.  Before his accident, a few of Conor's projects included: 

- finishing installing hardwood flooring on the first floor of their home; 

- installing electrical and finishing seating, stage, and roof for the outdoor “Jim ‘Philly’ Strain” amphitheater - being dedicated to a University of Dayton student who passed away from leukemia during his senior year at UD; and, 

- finishing wrap around seating and updating the heating and a/c in the Fr. Ken Templin “You are the Light of the World” Chapel - Fr. Ken worked with Conor and Bridget at UD, encouraged Conor to first ask Bridget out, and married them in 2000;

- creating warm gathering spaces to host more winter groups and become more sustainable during the colder months.  

To consider the number of lives Conor has touched is mind-blowing.  Among his work as a campus minister at the University of Dayton, Director of Campus Ministry at the Newman Center at Indiana University, Director of Student Programs at IU Alumni Association, and with groups he and Bridget have hosted at Solsberry Hill, his impact is far-reaching.  Conor, his incredible wife Bridget, and their three boys need us.  It's time to rally around Conor in his time of need and give back in any way we can.