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Daniel's Medical Fund

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Daniel is my son and has been a paraplegic for 14 years. Early April 2015 Daniel was admitted to a local hospital for an infection and was an inpatient for seven weeks. Daniel was discharged with an active infection and fever. A week later, Daniel was admitted to a different hospital with internal bleeding. This resulted from loss of muscle in his back to support him.  Because of the infection and muscle loss, Daniel's L5 vertebra crushed and his L4 and S1 suffered bone loss. As a result Daniel experienced continual pain and was unable to work or get around like he could before.

In October 2015 I took Daniel to Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.  After the assessments were complete they began an aggressive treatment for the infection with the goal of repairing the gap between L4 and S1 with new hardware.  Because of the complexity of the damage and the need to be infection free prior to surgery it took eight trips to Mayo to be cleared for surgery. Daniel was cleared for surgery in March 2016 and after one more trip to Mayo Daniel was admitted to St. Mary’s Hospital on May11, 2016. Daniel was scheduled for three surgeries to repair the damage to his back. The surgeries took 39 hours with the longest being 19 hours, and involved five surgical teams.   The doctors at Mayo termed this surgery heroic and unpresendented in scope.  The initial recovery was expected to be six months yet due to their skills and heroics and Daniel's determination the recovery time was cut to three months.

When admitted to St. Mary’s, Daniel’s pain levels hovered around 8 to 10 on the pain scale. His last surgery was on May 19, 2016 and by the following Saturday his pain level was down to 1 to 3 with minimal pain medications. By the end of May he was off of pain medications and maintaining 1 to three on the pain scale. Daniel is now able to sleep and eat again but faces three months of recovery with skilled care. Daniel is currently at a Mayo Clinic Skilled center in Springfield, MN. Medicare will cover this cost for twelve more days at 100% then it changes to 80/20%. We are looking to move him to Bismarck for the remainder of his recovery.

With the non covered expenses of his hospitalization in Bismarck, travel to Rochester of eight trips to date and every six weeks until October and having to pay the 20% of the skilled care from July 5, 2016 until October he is facing considerable expenses. Out of pocket expenses since May 2015 has reached over $6,000.00 which his father has covered. The amount Daniel will be responsible for the four week hospital stay and surgeries is not known yet. The billed costs are around $500,000.00 at this time prior to Medicare coverage.

It is urgent Daniel receive assistance in offsetting these costs as he is on SSDI and has a house payment and shared custody of two teenage children, Kaitlin and Brenden. The goal is to raise $20,000.00 to pay the non-covered costs of Daniel’s medical care. 

Daniel's mother and I have stood by Daniel over these last fourteen years and witnessed his determination a spirit to live his life to the fullest.  The success of raising this money will lift a burden from Daniel and his mother and I to see to his continued care  and for financial relief.  Daniel's goal is to return to his home and live independently once again, have his children with him and return to work.

Daniel and his mother and I will be very greatful for all donations to this cause as it will mean a new beginning for Daniel.  Parents, no matter how old their children, struggle deeply when their suffer and have needs like Daniel.  Our resources have been depleated caring for Daniel in his medical needs during this time.  We must go forward and hope you can help this happen for Daniel.
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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $25 
    • 8 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

James T. Avard
Organizer
Mandan, ND
Daniel Avard
Beneficiary

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