Brenner Family

Hi friends and family,
I am trying to raise money for my younger brother Tim and his family. Tim, who is 36,  had been stricken with an undiagnosed illness since last June. He experienced a low grade fever and constant internal pain making it difficult to eat and sleep. He has lost about 50 pounds in the past eight months. He has seen a number of medical professionals who have, up to recently, been unable to pinpoint a diagnosis.  Finally, thank God, a new doctor was able to identify an infection through a blood test. This infection most likely had ebbed and flowed in his body since last summer, and attacked his kidneys, spleen and worse, his aortic and mitral valve in his heart.  He has been hospitalized at St. Joe’s Mercy Hospital of Ann Arbor since last Thursday, January 9. He is taking an antibiotic for the infection, and once his kidney function shows signs of recovery, he will have open heart surgery to replace the damaged valve, possibly early next week.

Unfortunately, these past few months have been doubly hard on our family, with our mother Carol, fighting pancreatic cancer. Tim and his girlfriend Rachel live in Belleville with their 18 month old son TJ and our mom has been the primary caregiver for TJ while Rachel worked (she is a nurse) and Tim has been sick. Tim is self employed and has worked with me in the past on a variety of landscaping construction jobs. While he does have health insurance, he has no disability insurance. Rachel has had to start taking unpaid leave from her work to be with Tim and TJ.  My parents have been helping them financially as much as possible, but they are both retired, and their fixed incomes will not be sufficient. 

I am grateful to have heard from so many of my own friends and our family recently, and very much appreciate the prayers and well wishes. Many of you have asked how you can do more to help our family, and after many days of trying to come up with an answer, this is it: Please contribute what ever extra dollars you are able, even just $5-10 per person could add up to a tremendous amount, and help sustain our family right now, and hopefully assist Tim as he regains his strength. Also, if you feel so moved, please share with your friends and family on your social media. Thanks for reading this plea, and God bless you all!
Love, Tom