An update on things....

Apr 01, 2026

Hi All,

I just wanted to update everyone on things, now that I am starting to get a better picture of what is coming. I am meeting with the surgeon next Friday, the 10th, in Madison. Hoping we can get the surgery done sooner than later, as I am really struggling with my disease right now and in a heck of a lot of pain constantly.

I wanted to share with you that this is going to be a life changing surgery. My last surgery, I was told that I would need TPN the rest of my life if I had another surgery. This is 99% going to be the case. I probably should be on it now, to be honest. I am struggling to function and had just gotten labs back for all my nutrient levels... they are all severely low. This is affecting me tremendously. Having daily nutrients the rest of my life will be burdensome and require weekly visits from nurses and daily hookups to 12 hour infusions.

I am also at the point that, coupled with the Crohns, having scoliosis that has gotten worse through the years and autonomic neuropathy, I am unable to work more than an hour or two at a time. I am constantly struggling even being at my store more than a couple hours and that is only a couple days a week. I have been trying to work at a church, too, which has been really difficult. I am pushing as hard as I can, coupled with trying to be a good dad... it is really hard. For this reason, I have applied and been rejected for disability already. I have employed a lawyer to help me with this, which will cost me thousands of dollars. Yes, wrapped into what I get from disability, but this is still thousands of dollars that I won't see. Not to mention, I cannot work much prior to me getting disability, and that alone is really difficult to do with bills that are still due every month. I am not sure how we are going to handle this all, while still trying to take care of my kids and pay our monthly bills.

I have gotten all the help I could from the state right now, but it still falls short of our needs by at least a few hundred dollars a month. This is why I am asking for you to please open your hearts right now, to help my family and I, during a time when money is very scarce. The store cannot be counted on for money, as it is barely making money as it is. I am basically jobless right now outside of an hour or two of work every week. And will not be able to work much moving forward while I wait for surgery, and while it takes a few months to recover from surgery. It is a really rough time.

So for my four kids sake, for my wife, and for myself, please do what you can to help. If it is not money, we could always use help at my store so I don't have to be there, or help buying groceries as feeding 3 boys is expensive and the help we get isn't nearly enough.

I appreciate everyone who has donated thus far (THANK YOU SO MUCH!!), and thank you if you are considering it moving forward. It will definitely go to a good cause to make sure my family is taken care of, and that stress taken off my shoulders will only help my disease get better after the surgery is done.

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