For over two years now, my brother in law, Chris, has been having some serious medical problems. It started out as flu-like symptoms, and progressed from there. He began having flu symptoms, hallucinations, and everything in between-- Fatigue, sleep paralysis, peripheral neuropathy, back pain, vomiting, loss of consciousness -- the list of bizarre symptoms goes on and on, and most of them I think he'd rather not have shared. He has been to every specialist in the Memphis area who could potentially help him, and nobody has been able to make an accurate diagnosis or provide him with much relief.
He recently had a sleep study done to find out why he's stopping breathing in his sleep. (Brenda has found him asleep with blue lips several times now, and he's having lots of other issues during sleep, like sleep paralysis.) They diagnosed him with sleep apnea, but think it it being caused by something else or is part of a larger picture.
They think the core of his problem may be GI related. They want to send him to Dr. Doug Drossman at UNC Center for Functional GI and Motility Disorders, which is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. This guy is well known for finding and solving problems that nobody else can figure out. He's been featured on WebMD, etc. He's legit, and our hope is that he can pinpoint problems that others have not had experience with and can't identify. Chris was referred to this doctor months ago, but it's difficult to get in to see him, and he has been waiting for them to call and give him an appointment. They called today and offered him an appointment for December 8. Unfortunately, he doesn't have the money to make the trip, but he took the appointment anyway on faith that he can come up with the funds to get there.
Because he's been so sick, Chris has been missing more and more work hours over the last six months or so, and the dozens of doctor visits, prescriptions, and other related expenses have drained their wallets to the point that they can't afford to make the trip as of now. Fortunately, they can fly for fairly cheap, thanks to the fact that my grandfather worked for American Airlines for 25 years and our grandmother gets tickets for about $350-400. (It used to be free, but I guess with the cost of fuel they gradually started adding lots of fees to the "free" tickets.) It's still cheaper than buying a regular ticket. On top of the few hundred for airline tickets, there's still the cost of a hotel room, rental car, etc. I would estimate the cost to be in the neighborhood of $800, assuming his health insurance company pays for the doctor's charges, and we're waiting to hear back on that. Anyway nearly a thousand bucks is a lot to come up with when you're living check to check to begin with, then start missing work and your savings has been bled to death. I'm a big believer in families rallying to take care of their own. This has been going on for a very long time now, and everyone in our family has been helping as much as possible, helping with expenses here and there, or helping in other ways, like taking care of the kids while they go to doctors, etc.
If you can, please help us get Chris to this doctor. He is not a bum or a mooch-- he is a stand-up guy who works his tail off and takes care of his family. Lesser men would have collapsed under the pressure and pain he's been in, and he keeps going. He did not ask me to do this, nor did his wife or anyone else in the family. I simply see a need that we can not meet alone, and decided to ask for help.
I set up a Paypal donations button in the sidebar. The Paypal account is in my husband's name, so that is why his name shows up. It will say Tim McWilliams. The money will go to our Paypal account, and 100% of it will go to cover the expenses related to Chris' trip to UNC. I will remove the link as soon as we get enough money, assuming we get any donations, so if you want to give you can rest assured that it's not in vain, and your money will be going directly to the need. In the unlikely event that we actually get TOO MUCH money, I will donate whatever is left over to the American Cancer Society. Not one penny will go into my pocket. If you can give a dollar, give a dollar. If you can give a hundred, give a hundred. If you can't give anything, at least keep Chris and his family in your thoughts and prayers, and tell his story to anyone you know who may be able to help. I'm going to look into setting up a Facebook group where we can also take donations, but for now my blog is the only place, so send people here. Forward the link at the bottom of the post to people in emails--whatever you want to do. If you have any questions, you can email me at annmcwilliams@comcast.net. I'll answer asap.
Thanks in advance for the thoughts and prayers.
~Ann
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=9038914
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