Dan Sherman Medical Emergency Fund

Meet Dan. He's a hardworking 49 year old who lives a quiet life in small town Meeker Colorado. He works for RBC Road and Bridge Department and likes to ride his motorcycle on the weekends.

Dan, who has had no previous medical problems, has been in the hospital for 17 days! What started as a potentially simple health issue has led to him being flown to Denver. He has been in the ICU for 7 days, so far.

At this point, when Dan returns home he will require dedicated care. This coupled with the exorbitant cost of medical care to date, the cost of deductible (with insurance coverage) to be billed, the cost of hotels fuel, food, etc for his family to care for him during this time of stress and illness, and the cost of his continued medical needs as he returns to health, is the reason why we have posted his story.

Conditions to date:

Severe abdominal pain

ERCP procedure x 2

(stent placement in common bile duct)

Gallbladder removal

Jaundice

Acute pancreatitis

Intestinal ileus

Collapsed lungs

Shock

Kidney failure

If you'd like to know more details about what happened to him please read his story below. This has been a long journey, and it seems like we have much farther to go.

We appreciate any love and support shown for Dan and his family.

Dan's story begins on Wednesday, July 26th with a seemingly healthy man going to bed, and then waking early Thursday morning with sudden severe abdominal pain, which landed him in the ER.

After some testing he was transferred to a bigger hospital where he received a minor surgery, to place a stent in the common bile duct. This surgery led to complications, which in turn led to another surgery. And, the 2nd surgery led to even more complications, which included vomiting violently, causing him to stay in the hospital

a few more days, before a 3rd surgery was performed, to remove his gallbladder. This surgery did not resolve any of his symptoms, in fact it worsened his condition.

He continued to decline, causing him more severe pain. He developed jaundice and acute pancreatitis.

In the meantime, Dan's lungs took a hit, as he developed atelectasis, which caused his lung capacity to diminish to only 30%- essentially collapsed lungs. He began to feel very bloated. His doctors had no real reason as to why he was suffering, they said that they may have to perform exploratory surgery to find the answer. And, they began treating him for possible sepsis.

After days of severe illness and pain, it was discovered that Dan's GI tract was filling with fluids up to his esophagus, which again led to violent vomiting. The doctors then inserted an NG tube, to relieve the GI pressure.

Shortly after placing the tube, his blood pressure began to drop rapidly as his heart rate increased. He was then, finally, transferred to the ICU.

Within a few hours he was diagnosed with shock and kidney failure, which led to transfer to an even bigger hospital in Denver, for dedicated care by a kidney specialist (nephrologist) in the ICU.

This transfer took place August 4th.

Upon arrival he remained on medication to raise his blood pressure, and also, medication was immediately administered to help improve kidney function.

Over the next day, he was assessed. It was concluded that he should have dialysis - which led to having 2 central lines placed, one on either side of his neck. The next day he was started on a 3-hour rapid hemodialysis.

Therafter, he was started on IV nutrition. Since then, he has made slow progress, until today, Friday, Aug 11th. Intestinal fluids began backing up again due to inflammation that mimics blockage in his intestinal tract (ileus).

Although we have no idea when Dan will return home, we have high hopes that he will continue to improve.