Brian Samuelson and Family

Hello Friends and Family of the Samuelson's. I want to introduce myself, My name is Ashley Archbold and I have known Michelle for my entire life, she was my neighbor growing up, but has really become family over the years. Keeping up with Michelle Daily/Weekly about Brian's progress has led us to ask for some help for the Samuelson Family. Below you will find their on-going story.

Never in anyone’s life do they imagine themselves finding love after knowing each other for 25 years, reconnecting and starting to build their lives together. Michelle and Brian rekindled their relationship roughly two years ago. They got engaged February 5th 2022 and were planning their wedding for August 6th 2022. Between their engagement and wedding date they bought a home together and were enjoying life as a family of 3. Their beautiful new reality quickly took a turn in June of 2022.

JUNE 2022

Brian and Michelle had just moved into their home and Brian fell ill, he thought he had a bad case of stomach flu, after three days of excessive vomiting they called their doctor and were advised to go to the ER. Brian was admitted and several tests were ran. Brian ended up being admitted to the ICU, they discovered he didn’t have the flue, but his small intestine twisted and was dead (Necrotic Ischemic Bowel). At this point Brian was in Septic Shock, their only option was to perform emergency surgery to try and save his life. The surgery itself could have taken his life. Luckily Brian survived surgery, but was left with an open wound in his abdomen because there was too much infection to be able to close him up. Brian was in the ICU on a ventilator in a medically induced coma for 2 days after surgery. The doctors were apprehensive about performing his second surgery to close his incision as they were concerned he wouldn’t make it through another round of anesthesia. Brian is a survivor and made it through, but it took him almost a full week to regain consciousness. During Brian's surgery they discovered that he has NASH Cirrhosis. This is Cirrhosis caused by a fatty liver, most people don’t experience issues with it.

JULY 2022

July 2022 didn’t bring sunshine and rainbows, Brian was readmitted to the ICU for Sepsis. Once discharged from ICU Brian went home with orders for occupational and physical therapy and wound care nursing. During Brian's second Hospital admittance for his Pulmonary Embolism Michelle and Brian made the decision to call off their plans of a wedding. Michelle and Brain exchanged their Vows on July 10, 2022 in Brian’s ICU room. When Brian was discharged from his ICU stays he was placed on blood thinners and was ordered to continue occupational and physical therapy.

AUGUST 2022

Brian was experiencing weakness all of August. Around the middle of August Brian went to bed at 5pm on a Saturday and woke up around noon Sunday. Michelle went to check on him when he woke up and found him with blood all over his clothes, hands, bedding and in the bathroom. Brian couldn’t tell her who he was, who she was, he was unable to form a sentence, he couldn’t stay awake and was talking gibberish. Michelle rushed him back to the ER, where he ended up back in the ICU with Hepatic encephalopathy due to NASH Cirrhosis. Brian was put on very strong medications to get rid of the toxins causing H.E. While he was hospitalized Brain had paracentesis to remove 6 liters of fluid. During all of this Brain has been struggling to eat. A Jello cup was the amount of food he could eat in an entire day. This was the third Month of Brian being unable to drive a car or work.

SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2022

Brian was able to avoid a hospital stay during September and October, although things were still not great. Brian was on limited pay Short Term Disability and that timeframe was expiring. Brian was forced to go back to work or faced with being fired. He was very weak, still unable to eat a meal and managed to get to work for a week. At the end of his week of work Brian was fired due to being too weak to perform his job duties.

NOVEMBER 2022

November 1st and 2nd Brian had a two day Dr Appointment at Anschutz medical campus to review and test for candidacy for a liver transplant. Michelle and Brian arrived for testing at 6am, they took a ton of samples of blood, causing Brain to pass out. The nurses thought he had low blood sugar so they gave him orange juice but he was unable to keep it down. He was too weak to even sit up for his appointment. His Blood work came back showing an abnormal amount of concerning information. The main concern was his sodium levels, it was so low he could start experiencing seizures at anytime. Brian was admitted to the ICU and was told he was not a candidate for a transplant due to Hepatic encephalopathy, Pulmonary embolism, history of heart attack, too weak to walk, can not hold down food, Latent Tuberculosis, CDiff diagnosis.

DECEMBER 2022

December brought more hospital visits for Brian. He was feeling bloated and was retaining too much fluid. He could barely sit up or get up from a seated position. He was sent back to the hospital for another paracentesis. Brian's lab results we all over the charts again. His sodium was critically low, his hemoglobin was very low he was a 6.0 his normal is a 9.0 but the average person should be at a 14.0. He was admitted to the ICU under suspicion he had a G.I. bleed. He received 3 blood transfusions, they performed an endoscopy. They confirmed he didn’t have a G.I. Bleed. The diagnosis was liver failure which is causing his blood levels to be so low.

Brian had another paracentesis to drain fluids they removed 8 liters. After he was discharged he ended up with a respiratory infection, luckily they were able to prescribe antibiotics that he could take from home.

JANUARY 2023

Brian had symptoms of a G.I. Bleed, he was readmitted to the ICU, he was then moved to a regular room after a day in ICU. It was confirmed no G.I. Bleed, but continues to have low sodium, low potassium and low hemoglobin from liver failure. Brian is still very weak, unable to eat enough to maintain a healthy diet. Brians Meld score is a 29 which gives him a 30% chance of passing away in the next 3 months. Brians care team is doing everything they can to try to insure he is here for his next two day transplant appointment at the end of January. Brian is currently in the hospital receiving medications that can only be given via IV.

Michelle and Brian are hopeful that he will qualify to be added to the transplant list.

This has been an unimaginably hard time for the Samuelson’s. Going from planning the most exciting time of their lives to just trying to make it day to day is more than what the majority of us can imagine. On behalf of their family I am launching this Go-Fund me to help them out during this time. Anything will help, Prayers are beyond appreciated. Michelle and Brian went from a dual household income to a single income family. With Brian being fired from his job they have been forced to pay out of pocket to maintain his health insurance as his benefits are better than what Michelle can offer. While every possible option is being looked into, the last thing anyone wants or should have to worry about is finances. Michelle is doing her best to take Brian to all of his appointments, not to mention his hospital stays as well as maintaining their household and being a mother to her 16 year old daughter. There is so much more to say, but we are just hoping those able to, can come together to help out this dear family in need of a little extra support.