Hello friends, my name is Becky Ventre and I have had the joy of walking alongside my friends this year as they adjust to life in a new country, in a new town, new schools, and all of the things that go with a MAJOR life transition.
Mom is a rockstar, navigating life, raising 3 kids alone (ages 21, 17, and 7).
She was just able to legally get a job for the first time in a year and within 3 weeks, the hopes of providing for her family have come to an abrupt halt.
Her youngest, Prince-Matthew, started having mobility issues over the last month that quickly progressed from running and jumping to needing a wheelchair to safely attend school.
We started navigating the medical system, getting appointments with neurology to test for major disease processes that would cause such an abrupt change in function.
This led to an inpatient hospital stay last Friday to start a series of tests to get to the bottom of the cause of this sudden muscle weakness.
Prince-Matthew was treated for a couple of days for Guillain-Barré syndrome, which was a diagnosis that gave us hope that he would indeed recover in time.
However, once a brain and spine MRI were completed on 6/17, we learned Prince’s situation was much more serious than originally thought.
Testing revealed a very large, extensive, and aggressive mass in his thoracic spine, nearly crushing the cord in its path. This required an immediate schedule of a very serious and involved spinal surgery on 6/18, lasting up to 8 hours! There are a lot of potential complications as his spine will be removed in the diseased areas and replaced with metal supports. The tumor is too extensive to be fully removed; however, it will be biopsied to determine the next steps of treatment.
Prince will be hospitalized for some time and then will need to move to a rehab facility to continue his care. This health crisis will be ongoing for a very long time, impacting the family in profound ways.
Would you consider donating to ease the stress of this situation for the family?
They have already experienced the provision of God over their lives this last difficult year and know He has not brought them to this place to abandon them.
God will be faithful to uphold them in this next chapter of their story!
Thank you for being a part of it.
Feel free to reach out with any questions.
