Lifting Up The Stocktons

Greetings to all who join us in care for the Stockton family.

We can hardly believe what the past month has held for Seth, Kelly and their 3 children. On the day before Easter, Kelly's husband, Seth, started showing signs of confusion and disorientation as they were leaving for a family outing. Kelly took him to ER immediately. After two CT scans and a lumbar puncture the initial conclusion was he likely had viral meningitis.

Less than 24 hours later on Easter morning, Seth had a tonic-clonic seizure and was admitted to the hospital. The meningitis panel came back negative. MRIs, blood tests, several spinal taps and endless additional tests followed. All results were clear. A few days later, he had another milder seizure. This lead to a 72-hour EEG study. This EEG revealed he was having absentee seizures, as many as 10-14 an hour. These are seizures that do not manifest themselves outwardly. Additional anti-seizure meds lowered the number of absentee seizures he experienced but a medically induced coma was deemed necessary to completely stop the episodes. The 60-hour coma was successful! The seizures finally stopped with the help of 5 anti-seizure medications. There is still no conclusive diagnosis despite MRI's and many other tests and procedures.

Currently, Seth is being treated for autoimmune encephalitis, but this diagnosis has not truly been confirmed. More neurological analysis is needed to arrive to conclusive diagnosis. His speech and ability to walk has continued to improve, but Seth's short term memory is a concern. He often is confused about events past and present that are scrambled in his mind, and often does not remember events more than one hour old.

Initially neurological team was confident of a full recovery, however, now, they are at a loss to explain why Seth's memory has not returned after successfully weaning him off all but two anti-seizure meds. The team has determined the best course of action is for him to return home and begin outpatient rehab. Follow-up will include Cognitive and Occupational Therapy, local neurology check-ups, a PET-scan as well a a consultation with Anschutz Medical Center (AMC). AMC has a neurological team who with greater expertise that hopefully will discover a firm diagnosis and successful treatment plan.

As we ponder the gravity of this journey, the time and mounting uncertainty of Seth's recovery period, we were prompted by many to start a Go-Fund-Me account. The responsibility weighs heavy on the shoulders of Kelly who was actually in the process of looking for work to contribute to family finances before all this unfolded. Now with her plate overflowing with three active kids, managing appointments, applying for aid and all of Seth's needs, there is a beautiful opportunity to lighten the financial burden so Kelly can delay working outside the home.

We are thankful for the way friends, co-workers and their church family have pitched in with meals, childcare, cards, texts and general offers to help. If coming along Kelly and Seth financially during this time is a desire you share, we wanted to provide the Go-Fund-Me platform as a streamlined way for giving. Of course please decide to give as the Lord may lead you.

Our initial fundraising goal is $15,000. This amount will assist them in getting them through the next year with so many unknowns, and we continue to trust the Lord will lead and provide.

Thank you again for all your kind thoughts and prayers. We have felt them and value them deeply.

Stan, Barb, Noah & Michael Myers (Kelly's family)