Help Our Friend Tony with MS get the Care He Needs

We are four friends raising funds for our friend, Tony Reese, who we find to be an amazing man who has suffered profoundly. Tony is the man in the middle of the picture above, seen during happier days, when he was still able to drive and largely function independently. Tony has suffered tremendously at the hands of Multiple Sclerosis, and right now, he finds himself in a profoundly difficult situation in which the healthcare system has failed him, and we want to help him, and invite others to help him through a remarkably difficult and frustrating bureaucratic nightmare.

We all became friends with Tony when we met in the School of Music at Michigan State University where Tony studied trumpet. Lisa Bergman, Dave Gaines, Dan Tembras and I, Dan Mattson, all have wonderful memories together, and all of us shared our dreams and goals while at MSU--but Tony's dreams were derailed when he was diagnosed with MS 20 years ago. He has been confined to a wheelchair for the past eight years, but none of the obstacles this disease has sent his way have taken away his good humor, his fortitude, and his heroic perseverance. We are in awe of his courage in the face of such an awful and debilitating disease. But what he faces now would cause the most stalwart among us to give into despair. We want you to know what he's had to endure and hope you will join us in helping him get through a seemingly insurmountable financial obstacle.

In brief, Tony required hospitalization in September of 2023. He entered rehab in early October after he resolved his medical problems and rebuilt his strength for two months.

In his own words,

"I gained a great deal of my strength back and was discharged home on December 8. Being home was a challenge, but I continued gaining strength and started getting back into my old routine. Then the week before Christmas came."

During the Holiday Season, when the rest of us were planning times with family, Tony was back in the hospital with a pulmonary embolism. He had developed a blood clot, and after this was resolved, Tony was discharged back home, with hopes for a much brighter 2024.

But this was not to be, as Tony describes what happened next:

"Literally three days after being discharged from my blood clot admission, I slipped off the edge of my bed while getting dressed and broke my left leg - tibia and fibula. I was back in the hospital for another week before entering rehab again. The same rehab facility as before.

"Now, with a much vaster and more tedious road ahead of me, I've learned that my insurance will be cutting my recovery short by about 70 days."

[Note: Medicare will cover up to 100 days in a skilled nursing facility for rehab. After discharge, 60 days must pass until that 100-day benefit "resets" (even with a new injury like a broken leg ). Since he had already exhausted most of this with his initial admittance, he will lose his Medicare coverage on February 2, even though he has not recovered enough to take care of himself.]

In Tony's words again:

"Now my only options for respite care are thousands of dollars out-of-pocket. I'm facing countless physical and emotional barriers right now. Soon to be piled on top is an absurd financial burden!"

Consider these awful conditions that Tony is confronting:

• He makes $76 too much from his disability insurance payments to receive additional assistance at home.

• He has developed pressure wounds as a result of being in the hospital again.

• The brace he was given to keep his broken leg immobile also caused pressure wounds; he is now having pillows wrapped around his leg as a short gap measure to brace the leg. And yet his coverage ends on February 2!

• While in the rehab facility this time, he contracted Clostridium difficile colitis, a horrible condition of the gastric system.

• Tony's parents are no longer alive. He has a strong relationship with his two siblings, but unfortunately he doesn't get to see them on a regular basis. His sister in Grand Rapids was in a devastating car accident 12 years ago and suffers from the long-term effects of traumatic brain injury. She is doing well in assisted-living but unable to help financially. He has a brother in Texas who is also not able to help financially. Sadly, his former wife divorced him 12 years ago when his MS started to become too much of a challenge. Tony is very much alone in this awful situation.

• Moreover, he is facing the likelihood that he will need to surrender his longtime canine companion, Maggie

The only option Tony has--to the best of our knowledge--is for him to remain in his current skilled nursing facility until his leg is adequately healed for him to return home. He will be required to pay for this himself, but his income is already stretched thin.

The cost for this care is $380 per day/$2660 a week. The projected time for his recovery and rehabilitation is six weeks, thus our goal is $16,000. Any money that we are able to raise over that will go to helping pay Tony's continuing medical bills and to make his life at his home easier.

We, as his friends, have made sure Tony has the finances to enter the facility for the first week, but there is profound urgency with this fundraiser, since the care must be paid in advance. We can't take care of this on our own, so we're reaching out to his friends, and relying on the kindness of strangers to help him get through this awful, awful situation.

Please consider joining us in giving to this amazing, remarkable, and inspiring man and supporting him in this next mountain he has been forced to climb. With your help, he can do it, since he's overcome every other obstacle that he's faced.

Incidentally, Tony’s 50th birthday is on February 7. We can’t imagine a better gift for our friend than to allow him to rest easy in his moment of greatest need. Please consider helping this remarkable and amazing person.