Roger Queen Funeral & Expenses.

**I removed the original explanation and updated this to reflect my recent understanding. I have gone through a great deal since starting this. I didn't know how much I would go through back then. So, now that I know a lot about my situation and the surgery, I want to explain it better. Love you all. Thanks for all of the prayers and support. **


 It can be hard to navigate all these updates and find out what’s really going on with me. So here is a summary for the people new to the page and my story. The closer I get to Surgery, the more people keep asking me why I’m getting the surgery or what kind of surgery it is. I understand. It’s easier to ask than to read my profile or the GoFundMe link. So, I decided to build a response and use it as a template to copy and paste.

This is for anyone curious about why I’m had to get the surgery on April 8th called a hemicorporectomy, where they will amputate the whole lower half of my body, from the belly button down, here is my best attempt at an answer.

It all began when I became paralyzed from a major ATV accident where I flew off the side of a 60ft cliff on May 5, 2006. My first Wheelchair decided to randomly break in half while I was in Walmart one afternoon. I was then provided a loaner chair while they repaired my chair. The loaner chair, of course, was not fitted to me, and I would spend way too much time in it, causing too much pressure on my butt.

 I was also overmedicated with pain and anxiety medications to where my wife says I would drool on myself and talk to invisible people. This caused me to fall asleep in my chair a few times, which is a big no-no. This then caused bed sores on my butt, so I was required to have Home Health come out and take care of it daily. The nurse would come out every morning to clean and dress my wounds. Even with proper care and keeping pressure off of them, they would get bigger and bigger.

We finally figured out that I had already developed a tunnel into the bone that had caused a bone infection. The bone infection called osteomyelitis was treated with at least 15 six-week hospital stays to receive IV antibiotics over the last 16 years. I also would get a total of 3 flap surgeries over the years to attempt healing the sores. This is where they take flesh from my thigh and perform plastic surgery to close the wound.

This surgery required 6-8 weeks in a hospital bed lying on your side. I was allowed to put zero pressure on my butt during the 6-8 weeks, and I would follow directions every time, yet it would never heal. Every time, the surgery would ultimately fail because they couldn’t seem to get all the bone infection out.

When antibiotics aren't quite working, you need to remove the infected portion of the bone to get the osteomyelitis out. Unfortunately, they didn’t realize how far the bone infection had spread. I chose to give up on surgeries and just went to work and had my wife perform wound care every day for the last 15 years. Unfortunately, the bone infection would spread throughout my lower half, including down to my feet.

 The infection began eating away at the bones to where I eventually would have no pelvis and no hips left. My lower half was being held on by tendons with no bone support. like I said I gave up on surgeries because every surgery required me to lay in a hospital bed on my side for 6 to 8 weeks, and with seemingly no progress, I felt the constant surgeries and bedrest became pretty redundant.

 After the three failed flap surgeries and still the wound never getting better, I gave up on trying to recover and just worked 60 hours a week to provide for my family with yearly iv antibiotics. Fast forward to March 2022 when I left my job in and decided to go back to the surgeons to see if anything else could be done because I was tired of being sick all the time.

When I went to the orthopedic surgeon, he told me the only option left for me was this surgery called a Hemicorporectomy, and if I didn’t do it, I had one to two years left to live. It took me a year to accept this news and another year to get all five surgeons needed with the board of ethics approval for this radical surgery.

I had the surgery on April 8th, and it was 13-hours straight through. It went flawlessly! I have never felt so excellent, and every since I woke up I’ve been so excited about life. After surviving this surgery, I feel amazing, and I am 100% infection-free with minimal pain.

 So, this is the story of how I came to need this surgery as well as the success of the hemicorporectomy. I'm sorry it’s so long, but it’s the only way to explain it clearly in my opinion.  Hopefully, it made sense.

Thank you for reading, praying, and providing financial support. Remember, God is good, no matter what. My story may sound traumatic, but I assure you, God has been good to me, and his grace and mercy in my life are extraordinary. Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego said: my God can, and I believe my God will, but even if my God doesn’t, I will sing, shout praise, and glorify his Holy name because He is worthy. That’s not a word-for-word from the Bible, but it is close enough for me. Lol, He is worthy to be praised. That’s all that matters.

 Thank you so much for your support; it means the world to my family. As I said, I had the surgery on April 8th, 2024, and God had his hands on the surgeons as they had their hands on me. It was a flawless surgery. I’m now three months out from surgery and still slowly healing. I did develop one small wound from stitches that were left in too long but I feel great.

 I’ve been putting weight back on. I’m getting my strength back, and I’m just so excited to see what life brings. Thank you for supporting my cause as I try to take care of medical bills, maintain good nutrition, and take care of household bills as I heal.