Caregiving/Medical costs for Heidi

As family & friends can attest, Jason & Heidi Corrie were always a hard-working, fun-loving couple with lots of friends.  This neat couple has been dealt a cruel blow and now face an uncertain future and can use all the help they can get.  Heidi was a petite, blond, well groomed, well dressed, outgoing & confident woman.  She once worked 3 jobs at the same time.  She has been a waitress, a receptionist, owned her own cleaning business with her sister.  She had a great memory and a zest for life. They have been married for 20 yrs this year, had no children, but loved all their fur-babies.  They moved to AZ about 10 yrs ago and Heidi decided to go back to school to pursue her degree as a Physical Therapy Assistant.  She graduated with honors on the Dean’s List and started her new career.  She loved it!  The one thing she had a little trouble with was spelling and a mastery of “proper” English.  It wasn’t much of a problem until she found herself working for a new supervisor who was quite a “stickler” for just those things in her reports.  She found herself on probation & started to falter in her confidence.  As we look back at this time, perhaps her illness was just beginning at that point and contributed to what ultimately happened.  After just a few short years, she lost the job she so loved.  We noticed some gradual changes in her behavior which we assumed was a form of depression.  She became more & more withdrawn, gave in to aches & pains that she had previously worked through & seemed to have trouble motivating herself to do much of anything.  She was always a great cook and entertainer, but was showing less interest in doing these things.  They had no health insurance & doctor visits were just not in the picture.  As it became more obvious that something was definitely not right, they were finally able to get her on medicare & get her into a doctor for a complete check up.  As it turned out, after many tests and a referral to a neurologist, Heidi has been officially diagnosed with advanced dementia and she is only 52 years old.  She is no longer able to drive, cook, garden, socialize or do most things she used to enjoy.  She has tremendous memory problems and has difficulty engaging in a conversation of any length.  You can see the confusion & fear on her face & in her eyes & it is heartbreaking.  She is well aware something is wrong with her, but doesn’t understand it.  As of now, Jason works long hours to keep them financially afloat & has to leave her home alone.  He is understandably concerned about how much longer he can continue to do this & unsure what he can do to get her the care she will need in the near future.  They will meet again with the neurologist soon, but first have to come up with the money to have a very expensive PET scan the doctor wants.  The PET scan can run as high as $2,000.  While they do have medicare for her now, it does not nearly cover all the expenses they already have incurred, nor will it cover all the future expenses.  Those of you who have known Jason & Heidi for years would barely recognize her now.  It is a devastating thing to watch, especially in someone as young as she is.  We are hoping the next meeting with the doctor will give them a realistic prognosis of what to expect and also referrals for resources and assistance.  Right now they can use all the help and support they can get.  The family is heartbroken and there is no one in a position to be of much help.  All family members live in either MN or WI, too far away to be of any help on a daily basis. Jason’s mother lives in AZ, but has health issues of her own and would be more of a burden than a help.  The family is reaching out to anyone who can help them face this in any way you can.  We appreciate whatever you can do, including kind thoughts and prayers.  Thank you.