Gary Butler Urgent Fundraiser

PLEASE NOTE: All donations are directly deposited into Gary's bank account after 3 to 5 days.
This is Gary’s story and why he needs help now as his situation is urgent.  His medical problems began in June of 2018. A toothache led him to the dentist who treated his lower right molar. After a few days his jaw began to swell, and the pain returned, so he went back to the dentist who immediately referred him to an oral surgeon due to the excessive amount of swelling that had occurred in such a short period of time. The oral surgeon's office cleaned out the infected area, but after a couple of days things got dramatically worse. Gary woke up in the middle of the night and his jaw had swelled so much it looked like a lemon in his cheek. The next day he called the surgeons office and was told to come in immediately. As soon as the nurse saw Gary she rushed him into an examination room and the doctor called a special group of surgeons; referred to as oral maxillofacial, to schedule an emergency appointment. Once there, he was set up for emergency operation #1 on his lower jaw. Doctors went in and scraped off the bone in the affected area, stitched him up, prescribed antibiotics and sent him on his way. Within the next week the pain and swelling returned much worse which led to operation #2. The second operation was essentially the same as before and more antibiotics were prescribed, but the pain and swelling persisted.

At this point, Gary had had a nice apartment and steady job, but each of the surgeries required admission to the hospital from 5 to 11 days each. Follow-up appointments were also required every two to three days. The follow-up appointments took away half days of work with x-rays, biopsies, et al, so work reliability was becoming an issue with Gary’s employer, and was affecting his income. Thankfully, his savings filled in the gaps at this time. Gary had also taken out a student loan prior to all of this in an attempt to finish up his master’s degree, but due to the pain, appointments, surgeries, medication, recovery time, and having to work a second part-time job to help pay the rising medical bills, he had to quit school.

Surgery #3 was scheduled and essentially the same procedure as the previous, but this time they installed 6 penrose drains into Gary’s head which were tubes inserted between flesh and skull to aid in the reduction of fluid. There were four tubes which exited his head under his chin, and two were draining inside his mouth. The four under Gary’s chin extended through the skin about 2” and required him to wear a net around his head to hold large amounts of gauze to soak up the drainage. The gauze needed to be changed every two hours.  This was in addition to attempts at different combinations of antibiotics. Although Gary’s appearance was what he described as “atrocious” his employer allowed him to continue to work despite time off for appointments every two to three days.

Surgery #4 was the same cleaning, scraping, and replacement of Penrose drains, but now included CT scans. Doctors removed the rest of the molars on the bottom left side of Gary’s mouth. His employer was still allowing for time off, but the increasing amount of time required was becoming an issue. At this point, rent could not be paid and he was evicted the end of September 2018. He could also no longer not eat solid food because he couldn’t open his mouth wide enough and his weight dropped 60 pounds to 175 pounds.

Surgery #5 was when the Infectious Disease (ID) department got involved. Due to the prior “scrapings” there was not a whole lot of jaw bone left so additional input was brought in from ID experts in other states. The specialists recommended the installation of a PICC so that antibiotics cold be installed via IV directly into Gary’s heart in addition to more meds. The PICC was installed and Gary began giving himself IV injections at home. He now had follow-up appointments every two to three days with two different offices. At this point, both his work situations were falling apart. His employers had been very kind despite him not being very effective after recovering for days and being on a lot of meds. Some days he went straight to work after being released from the hospital. Nonetheless, he lost both his full and part-time jobs.

Surgery #6 doctors removed the remnants of the jaw bone and the mandible on the right side. This has had the effect of a stroke on his appearance and speech. Surgery #7 doctors installed an antibacterial plate in an attempt to help align and hold in place the rest of his mouth and facial structure. Gary was able to get assistance from his men's church group and he moved in with a friend to heal and recover. However, during follow-up appointments it was determined his body was rejecting the artificial plate so in Surgery #8 they removed the artificial plate and screws to see if natural body parts and antibiotics would be the answer. Things seemed to be going well and Gary could open his mouth a little bit more which helped with his annunciation when he spoke.  Gary has also been trying to get disability from social services and this is still in process.

Surgery #9 was scheduled because pain and swelling had returned, but doctors were unclear on his diagnosis and what treatment would be most appropriate. Blood work, MRI, CT scans, x-rays, and biopsies were all inconclusive, but did show a mass and what appeared to be more dead bone, but this time in the skull around eye socket, temple, ear area. The most recent surgery on 2/15/19 [see picture above] required more scraping and cleaning and exploration. Thankfully, there was both a neurologist and infectious disease doctor on-hand and it was determined not to be cancer, but rather, a different form of osteomyelitis, as well as sepsis. Gary now has a tube running out of his neck and he is on a combination of antibiotics and use of home vacuum to treat his wound. He is doing much better now that doctors have finally diagnosed the problem after a year of surgeries and treatments, but he needs our help to heal more comfortably, get strong, and focus on getting his disability insurance in place. Medicaid has been approved, but the medical bills have mounted. He is incredibly positive despite all of these trials and tribulations and has a plan for his future which is now looking much brighter. Please find it in your heart to donate and help him. Thank you <3