Hi friends, family, and community members.
My name is Katie and I am creating this fundraiser for my best friend’s father(Vern), her and their family in hopes to help them in this major time of need.
At the very end of 2024 Vern started having some medical issues and was having to be seen at the hospital to have fluid drained from his abdomen(you can see in a couple of the pictures one of their visits to have this done) but they were unsure of the cause. The visits to have this done started becoming more frequent, from once a month quickly moving up to once a week because of how fast the fluid was building up in his abdomen. Over the last few months he has gotten more sick, this has caused tremendous issues with his diabetes and issues with his heart, they did determine most of the fluid build up is coming from his liver and it not functioning properly. He was put on the transplant list in hopes to receive a liver but this can be a very long wait for many, while medical bills and home bills keep piling up.
He was taken by ambulance multiple times in just a matter of a couple weeks, with stays at the hospital each time, in and out of ICU each time. This last trip to mercy resulted in him being sent to OHSU to have a procedure done to help his liver function until he gets the transplant. Early last week they went in to do the procedure but once the surgeons were in they found there was more going on than expected and were unable to do the TIPS procedure at that time. They had to take more fluid samples and biopsies to be sent off to be tested to find out what else is going on before anything else could be done. We are coming up on almost 2 weeks at OHSU and still waiting for more answers/solutions.
It is hard enough mentally and emotionally having such an important part of your family so sick, in and out of the hospital but it is even harder when you are also having to stress about the money side of things as well. Up until a few months ago Vern was still working full time to help provide for his household, his daughter Lacey and 5 grand kids(ranging in ages from 5yrs-16yrs). Without him working all of this financial burden is falling on his daughter who only has so much income and is doing absolutely everything in her power to take care of all she can in anyway she can but it’s proving to be a very hard battle. She has been responsible for all his care and still running the household taking care of these things and 5 kids. 3 of these grandkids have birthdays between June 11th and the 24th, which has become a giant stress for both Lacey and Vern. With so much money having to go out for medical stuff it is going to make birthdays for these 3 grand kids much harder.
His income is what helps to pay their mortgage, utility bills, insurance payments both medical and vehicle among other things-one of the biggest things for Vern is taking care of his family.
Vern, Papa to pretty much any and all who know him, has always been an extremely hard working man. He’s also very stubborn and does not ask for help. He’s always been one to do it on his own and even when it was almost impossible, he would still figure out to get it done. He is the type of man who always gives to those around him, he’s always ready to help anyone that needs it. He loves his family fiercely, especially all his grandkids-both blood and not blood. He has many ‘adopted’ grandkids, my boys included. Vern has been like a second dad to me for almost 15 years now and it hurts my heart so much to see the stress and pain being put on him and his family currently.
Even with insurance(they are also working on his VA disability but that is proving to be a fight as well) these medical expenses and bills are still so high and adding up very quickly.
I know this is lengthy, many may not read it through and many may not be able donate or donate much but there are many things that could be EXTREMELY helpful to their whole family in this time-things like gift cards to help with food/groceries, grocery delivery even, gas cards for all the traveling back and forth to the hospitals, possible donations to their utility bills, monetary donations to the fundraiser that can be used to pay the medical bills and for the hospital stays, we also are going to set up an Amazon wishlist for the 3 girls birthdays(turning 7, 12, & 16) if anyone would like to gift them something for their birthdays.
Please even if you are unable to donate, atleast share this for us all. These are such AMAZING people who quite literally would give the shoes off their own two feet to help someone else in need, they more than deserve help in such a great time of need.
If anyone would like to donate gift cards or have things like groceries delivered to their home, you can contact me to figure out how to make that happen.
