Help for Marshall Cooper, Jr.

This is something I feel very uncomfortable doing for two reasons.  For one - I do not like asking for help and two – I believe sensitive family issues belong private and not advertised for the whole world to see.  I’ve had to put aside my own personal feelings and evaluate the situation and again do what I feel is best for my 46 year old brother Marshall.

Marshall has Multiple Sclerosis (since 2006) and in the middle of October he was admitted to the hospital in Cadillac, Michigan, after he ran out of gas (should not have been driving) and someone was kind enough to stop to help him and saw he was very confused and something unusual was going on.  He was having a flow blown MS attack and it was rapidly progressing.  He was in Cadillac for roughly a week and then was transferred to Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, Michigan to the Neurological Unit.  He was pumped with steroids to try to bring relief and calm the MS.  At that point, the doctors diagnosed him with dementia, cognitive and short-term memory impairment and recommended placement in a nursing care type facility as he was going to need help getting by.  The MS has affected him more mentally than physically.  After a grueling 3 weeks, I finally found an Adult Foster Care in Traverse City, Michigan that would take him as all other places were turning him down for various reasons (age, insurance concerns, cost of his MS medication and more).  My husband and I picked him up and took him up to Traverse City to the AFC home where he was for a whole whopping 1 ½ weeks out of the hospital in past 3 months.  On Thanksgiving morning, we drove up there to pick him up and noticed his eyes were going opposite directions and he was not able to see.  I’m sure you can imagine the fright this caused for us.  At that point, I gently explained to my brother that I was concerned and thought we better go to Munson ER in Traverse City and forget going to Manistee for Thanksgiving dinner.  My brother was having another MS attack and he was pumped with more steroids where he slowly leveled out.  My brother is still at Munson Hospital in Traverse City.  Why has he been there for near 2 months?  Because it was recommended by the doctors that in order to keep him safe and give the care he needs – he needs to be at a place that can help him with dementia issues as well as his MS.  Every single nursing home North, South, East that has been contacted is turning him away.  Biggest concerns still is his age (flight risk and still relatively strong at times) and fear they will get stuck with the $16,000 cost for his infusion for the MS.  Placement has become crucial.  My brother has not gotten treatment for his MS in over a month now and his MS is starting to relapse again (he’s fell two days in a row).  Because of insurance barriers, he cannot get his infusion until he has been discharged for 48 hours.  We cannot discharged him to an unsafe situation.  There are facilities that potentially will take him but have an out of pocket cost of $3,000-4,000 a month, which my brother does not have obviously nor do Jon and I, and Marshall strictly on a disability check.  His treatment rides totally on placement at this point and he is going to continue to decline rapidly if he does not get placement so he can get his infusion treatment. 

Is very sad that financial stuff and politics with insurance companies and hospitals play a part in getting proper care but that is reality.  I have contacted the Governor, the State Representatives and more – worthless.  I ask for your help – to give more options for us to get him placement with proper care.  I would NOT ask for help unless it is REALLY needed and anyone that knows me knows that.  Putting my brother’s sad situation out there for the world to see is hard - but I know it is at that point that he and I need outside help as nothing else is working. 

Thank you everyone – please pray hard for him. Much love to all.