Hope for Ryan Covert and family with brain tumor

Hello, We are Shannon and Charmyn Covert, we are the parents of Ryan Covert age 29. We would like to start off by sharing that anyone who knows Ryan can’t help but to love him. He is a happy-go-lucky kind of guy who enjoys working as a diesel mechanic, hunting, fishing, kayaking and spending time with his family and friends. He has a beautiful wife, Nichole and 2 wonderful children; Ava will be 6 in September and is starting kindergarten this week and Jack who just turned 1 in May.

Over the course of several months, Ryan has been discretely seeking medical help due to problems he has been experiencing, which eventually led to an MRI of the brain. On August 1st their lives changed forever when he got the results of his MRI. Turns out he has a pituitary tumor that is almost 3cm, pushing on his optic nerve and chiasm and is also affected his hormones in his body from the pituitary gland and the tumor, which has been causing all of his symptoms. Fast forward through multiple doctors appointments, 2 more MRI, a bunch of lab work and as Ryan would say, “a million sticks with needles,” and we finally have a game plan to put into action.

Ryan will be having a Transsphenoidal tumor resection ( surgery through his nose and the back of his sinus cavity into his brain and take a fat pad from his stomach to close the incision site)on Tuesday, September 5th. We are very lucky because the neurosurgeon says the tumor is most likely benign, however neurosurgeon is unable to tell us what kind of tumor it is until after surgery. The neurosurgeon has said that he will most likely need to remove his pituitary gland ( responsible for many hormones that regulate the body) and he will need to be on hormone replacement therapy for the rest of his life. If Ryan does not have the surgery, the neurosurgeon said that he will eventually go blind.

The reason I have created this page is to help raise money for his surgery, medical bills, and to help his wife and children financially with daily life expenses and childcare while Ryan is recovering. He has had 3 MRI that he is 100% responsible for total cost $2,900 and then the hospital called this week to let him know that the surgery alone is $68,000 and his portion that he needs to pay is $7,600 and that doesn’t include his overnight stay in the ICU after surgery. They told him if his hormone levels are okay after surgery then he can go home the day after surgery, but if his hormone aren’t able to be regulated then he will be staying in the hospital for at least another additional two days. His insurance deductible is $4,000 and out of pocket max is $9,100. He is expected to be out of work for 6 weeks, and his wife will be taking 1 week off after surgery to take care of him.

It is my hope that this heartbreaking story moves you to help a friend, but if you can’t or would prefer not to, that’s fine also. Please just pray for Ryan and his family as they embark on this emotional journey.

Update from Ryan:Just wanted to update everyone, I am currently back home recovering. Everything for the most part went pretty good. I want to thank everyone for all the prayers, contributions, and all the love. I'm so blessed to have every single one of you that helped in the smallest way. Those actions don't go un noticed. I am still alive and for the most part tumor free. It was non cancerous and non hormone secreting. The doctor did save my pituitary gland. I had spinal fluid leak that they did take care of. But beyond that I'm alive and well and in recovery and that's more then I could ask for. So thank you all so much. I am so appreciative for you all