Robert Kapen

On June 24th of 2011 Robert "Kapen" was working at a Young Life camp in Williams, AZ. He went to bed feeling fine but when he woke up he felt numbness on his right side. He was at camp with 350 teens and adults and he was the only person that was affected with this virus. He was taken to the emergency hospital in Flagstaff and then things just got worse so He was transferred to the Mayo Clinic in Phoenix.

At the Mayo Clinic he had seizure of some sort and was placed in a medically induced coma. A tracheotomy was performed and he was placed on a ventilator. They ran a gamut of tests and checked for everything they could possibly think of: West Nile Virus, Lyme disease, Valley Fever, and more with no diagnosis. After he came out from the coma he was given 1 % chance of living. He had no feeling from neck down. He had become a quadriplegic, he was mute and could only communicate with his eyes. He stayed at the Mayo Clinic for several weeks then he was then transferred on a private jet plane to UCLA Medical Center in West Los Angeles for further research but they also could not find a diagnosis. He stayed there close to two months. After UCLA he was transferred to a sub-acute care facility and there he began moving a little more and his left side started waking up and later transferred to Long Beach Memorial for intense rehab. He was given two months of intensive physical therapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy and then he was sent home after nine months of being in hospitals.

There is still no concrete diagnosis and doctors are still baffled as to what attacked Robert's brain. They can only suggest to keep going with therapy.

These days Robert has therapy from 9am to 3pm on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. He is still in a wheelchair, needs special transportation to get to and from therapy. He communicates with his phone because he is unable to speak. He has a gastrostomy tube because he is not able to swallow and has a caregiver who assists while his mom is at work. 

This page was set up to bring support to help with medical bills, nursing care, treatments not covered by the insurance, etc. The family would be so grateful for any kind of support all of us are willing to give. We don't HAVE to reach this goal but if we did it would be a huge blessing to the family. Again, anything will help. And if you can't donate then we would just like you to please read this story of one of the most faithful, joyful and patient man we know and pass it along to others. Thank you for visiting the page and willing to help. May God bless you, and please continue to keep "Kapen" and his family in your prayers.