Help Rod Howard recover from a stroke

Hello friends and family,

As most of you know, on June 2nd Rod suffered a carotid artery dissection. His main artery from his head to his brain was 100% blocked, leading to his stroke. Rod made it through an extremely difficult and precise surgery, praise God! He did, however, lose the ability to speak and move the right side of his body.

The past three months we have been blessed with the support of our community as Rod works towards recovery and we work through this huge life change. A big thank you to everyone who has come and spent time with us, brought us meals, and helped with everything in between, from making beds to practicing speech therapy with Rod to helping us move between homes. We are incredibly grateful.

We have now come to a point in this journey where monetary support is vital to continuing Rod’s recovery and my health as a caregiver for him. Although Rod is extremely determined in his recovery, he is still unable to work due to limited speech and limited movement on his right side.

Since June, Rod has accrued $10,000 in medical costs, including surgery, his ICU stay, rehab, and now speech, physical therapy and occupational therapy. While significant benefits like gap insurance through Rod’s employer have helped meet Rod’s max out-of-pocket expenses thus far, his medical costs continue to grow from his insurance premium load: on FMLA Rod took on his employer’s portion of his insurance premiums at $1500 a month, and now as he transitions to COBRA, those premium costs increase by another $700 a month. They are expected to go up another 20% in October during open enrollment to over $2700 a month. Additionally, Rod now has a frozen right shoulder due to the immobility which is requiring unexpected out of pocket chiropractic care.

This GoFundMe Campaign serves as a bridge to help Rod and Laura stabilize in the face of these rising costs as they finish out the calendar year and take stock of what Rod’s long-term recovery will look like.

If 200 people gave $100 we could reach our goal, however anything you can do to support us monetarily is immensely appreciated!

Much Love,

Laura and Kids