Help Us Help Samuel

We are John and Maggie Diemer, and we’re reaching out with heavy hearts to ask for your help in supporting our 12-year-old son, Samuel. For the past several years, our family has been on a difficult journey as Samuel has struggled with mental health and behavioral challenges.

The interventions we've tried have been numerous, ranging from in home ABA Therapy, a certified service dog (Max), a school IEP, and counselling, to the more extreme measures of police and ambulance calls, an emergency room visit and a short term residential stay. Yet this summer after months of refusing to participate in school and therapies, Sam’s violence and aggression in the home was at an all-time high. His dysregulation was regularly putting himself and his 3 siblings at risk, and it was clear that he needed more help than we could offer at home.

Despite these challenges, Samuel is an athletic, soft-hearted boy who loves his service dog, Max, and truly wants to do what’s right. It was heartbreaking to watch him struggle and feel like nothing we were doing was helping.

Samuel has been diagnosed with Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD), Autism (high functioning), and ADHD. In August, when it became clear that more intensive treatment was necessary, we made the most difficult decision we've ever made as parents, and brought Samuel to a facility in Utah for stabilization and assessment. After 6 weeks, the recommendation, due to his extensive academic and behavioral challenges, was to transfer Samuel to a longer-term residential program.

We were fortunate to get connected with a local family who, several years ago was dealing with a child who struggled in similar ways as Samuel. They found enormous success at a therapeutic residential center in New Mexico called The Sandhill Center, and strongly recommended we check it out. We liked that Sandhill utilized a relational approach, and only focused on younger children. Additionally, their integration of therapies involving movement and animals made it an ideal fit. So, in September we brought Samuel to The Sandhill Center. With an average length of stay being 1 year, he has a long road ahead of him, but we are hopeful that with the right support, Samuel can finally find the stability and healing he needs.

The cost for this care, however, is staggering. We estimate over $250,000 for a year of treatment. Unfortunately, we have exhausted our savings with medical and travel bills leading up to this point. It was our understanding that our insurance would help; however, they have been extremely difficult to work with, and have denied coverage for these treatments.

We are reaching out to our community of friends, family, and those who care deeply about children’s mental health, to ask for your support. Your donation will directly contribute to covering medical bills, therapy, and ongoing care that Samuel requires. It will also help with travel expenses. The Sandhill Center recommends that parents (and eventually siblings) come every four to six weeks for in-person therapy sessions, which we agree are hugely important his success and the reunification of our family.

As you can imagine, this journey has been unspeakably difficult. But we are not without hope. We believe God has led us to this amazing facility, and He can use The Sandhill Center to unlock the great potential we see in our son. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for considering helping our family in this time of need. With your help, we can potentially change the entire trajectory of Samuel's life.

Please share Samuel’s story and help us raise $200,000 to continue his care. Together, we can make a real difference in his life.

With gratitude,

John and Maggie Diemer