Eric Schell's Journey to Recovery

If you have ever crossed paths with Eric you would know that he is a softhearted, determined, caring person. He is one of those people that would offer to help you with only meeting you one time.

Eric is a father to two young boys, Grant (8) and Colin (7). He is a loving son, brother, uncle, brother in-law, cousin and a friend to many. He has made a successful living as a self-employed automobile mechanic for over 15 years. He has faced his health challenges over the years with being diagnosed with Crohn’s disease at age 24. Unfortunately there is no cure for Crohn’s disease. Eric has been experiencing a rough year with his health leading to this point.

On Saturday November 5th, Eric was in excruciating pain and went to the Emergency room. He had blockage in his bowel where his bowel and colon connect. His bowel was inflamed three times the size it should have been. It was expanded to an unimaginable size and was leaking into his stomach. He had 11 vials of fluid pumped from his stomach. His organs were starting to shut down and he was rushed into life-threatening Surgery. The doctors removed pieces of both his bowels but were expecting to have to go back in after the bowels shrunk in size.

On November 9th Eric suffered a heart attack and was placed on a ventilator. Fluid was detected and he had an infection in his stomach. The doctors came to the conclusion that the risk was too high not to treat the infection and see how his bowels were healing, all while Eric’s blood pressure continued to bounce around. He had another surgery to remove the infection and discovered more of his small bowel had indeed died and was leaking. More needed to be removed. Eric made it through the surgery and had enough healthy bowel to survive.

Things were looking up but he had developed pneumonia along the way and the ventilator tubes in his throat had to be removed. He had Surgery to place a Tracheotomy in that would still be connected to the ventilator. Unfortunately shortly after that surgery he was not waking up from sedation like he should have been. It was discovered that he had a large blood clot on his brain and the pressure from his spine was causing the brain to leak blood. Eric had to have a piece of his skull removed and tubes placed in his head to remove the pressure. He had indeed suffered a stroke and the doctors were not very hopeful. They were concerned about brain damage and Eric being paralyzed.

It was a rough few weeks not knowing what the future would hold for Eric but I know my brother is a fighter and not a quitter. He began to wake up and show huge improvements.

He was moved to a Critical Care Hospital on December 19!! I am happy to say he was removed off the ventilator on December 24th! He still has the tracheotomy in but should be removed any day now.

Eric will eventually be moved to a long term rehabilitation facility where he will continue to get physical therapy and build strength to be able to walk again.

With that being said Eric will be forced to experience life changing challenges. The financial aspect of Eric’s health should be the last of his concerns, but this is his reality. Eric is a hardworking father of two and we want to do everything we can to help him.

By contributing to this fund, you would be helping to alleviate some of the financial stresses, which will allow Eric to focus on healing both emotionally and physically.

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

The Schell Family