Fred's Got Guts

Meet Fred. Fred just turned 38 years old. He is a husband to his wife, Emily, father to their daughter, Hannah, and an avid Denver Broncos fan.
6 years ago, Fred was diagnosed with a rare disease called Gastroparesis (GP for short). Essentially, Fred’s stomach is dead. If he eats or drinks anything, it sits, rots, and turns to poison in his stomach. Over these past years, Fred and Emily have been through countless tests, several surgeries and countless different medications to help alleviate the excruciating symptoms. Nothing has worked.  Even after having his stomach completely removed in 2017, he continued to have symptoms and lose weight. He was in a constant state of malnourishment and dehydration.  His organs began to shut down so the decision was made to start TPN.  This is nutrition and hydration through his heart, accessed by a port in his chest.
TPN has saved his life, but also comes with many risks.

Unfortunately, this week, the scariest risk hit.
Fred has been hospitalized with Sepsis.  He has a serious blood infection and has been suffering from high fevers, convulsions and pain.  Because he has the central line, this infection could be deadly, so they are attacking it aggressively with IV antibiotics.  As of today, they are still waiting for the blood cultures to continue to grow so they can specify what kind of infection it is to treat it more specifically.  They are also watching his heart closely by doing Echos, as the infection could attach to his heart valves and stop his heart.

Although Fred and Emily have insurance, as we all know, prolonged hospital stays can be incredibly costly.  It is unknown how long Fred will be in the hospital, which means missed work for both of them for an unknown amount of time.

We need your help. Your support. If you can, please be a part of our community to help Fred live a long and healthy life with his girls.