Our beloved Andrew and Melissa’s medical journey

Dear friends of Andrew and Melissa Engstrom,

While we have good news about Andrew’s positive steps toward recovery, we are dismayed right now to report that Melissa, four days ago, suddenly was struck with debilitating pain in the left-side of her head.

She had to go to the Emergency Room and while at home now, she has been strictly confined to her bed due to consistent and unmanageable pain.

Please see Andrew’s recent Facebook post for more details on the diagnosis and prognosis.

Andrew’s recovery has been steady but slow and as the sole breadwinner, he is still unable to return to work. Of course now they are also facing hospital bills for both of them and out of pocket costs for expensive treatments!

We thank you for your prayers, concerns , and on the family’s behalf, continue to welcome your financial support!The unexpected came to the Engstrom family last week when Andrew Engstrom (husband of Melissa and father to four little ones) ended up in the hospital with a very scary episode of ITP, an auto-immune disorder that destroys his blood platelets. After responding well to initial therapies - he was released last Thursday (just in time for his son's birthday on Friday!) only to land back in the hospital on Sunday afternoon, again with critically low platelets.

He is still in the hospital receiving multiple levels of therapies in an attempt to help his body create and maintain platelets, but without the ability for his blood to clot properly, his team is on high alert for internal bleeding or organ damage while they wait for longer-term treatments to take effect, which may take some time.

As Andrew is the self-employed breadwinner for their family, the Engstroms have been so immensely grateful for the financial support of so many to help them get through this hard time. A donation page was initially set up on mealtrain, but we are moving to GoFundMe as a platform for fundraising for their family since there are lower fees and we want to get as much as we can directly to this family!

Melissa has asked us to please extend their heartfelt gratitude for the outpouring of love, prayer, help, and financial gifts. They feel deeply loved and carried through this. Thank you for your support!