Michael's Healing Journey Needs Your Help

Please help Michael and Debbie during this challenging time

Michael and Debbie moved to The Villages in spring of 2020 and quickly became all-in “Villagers” – golfing, catching live music at the squares, weekly attendance at City Fire karaoke even though neither were singers, and supporting their friends who performed at many different Villages venues. Michael even took on a part-time side hustle as an Uber driver to help ensure they could comfortably handle the costs of being retired in this kind of community.

The first punch: late last year, Michael was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. Not the kind of news anyone wants to receive. But they took the diagnosis and began the arduous journey of finding the right doctors and treatments to help him beat this horrible disease. His treatments were scheduled to begin in early January of this year.

The second punch: On New Year's Eve, Michael suffered a major stroke at home after spending the evening at Brownwood Square with his wife and their closest friends. The next morning, Michael woke up to find he was paralyzed on his right side. He could not swallow, could not speak, could not coordinate his mind and body to communicate in other ways, and required physical assistance to do even the smallest of activities we take for granted – getting in and out of bed, sitting down, standing up, dressing ourselves... you get the picture. As his inability to swallow didn’t go away in the short term, he was forced to undergo a surgical procedure to have a feeding tube installed so that he could receive nutrition, hydration, and medication while the physical therapists worked on teaching Michael how to do all the things he has done his whole life all over again.

The third punch: As Michael and Debbie negotiated the never-ending stream of doctors and hospitals to deal with these two life-threatening situations, they found their retirement savings almost completely depleted. With Michael’s Uber job being their only additional source of income other than Social Security, they found themselves struggling to find the money for daily living expenses, not to mention the mounting medical bills.

Debbie is looking for work to help cover their bills but is having to spend all of her time currently with Michael and his medical teams as he deals with the unimaginable tasks of learning how to walk, talk, and live again after his stroke while also having to work with his doctors to figure out when, and how, he can begin his cancer treatments. And even a full-time job would never provide enough to cover all of the medical and living expenses they will incur in the next year.

As a result of their situation, they have exhausted their retirement savings and are accumulating more than $8,000 a month in medical, therapy, and other living expenses. This amount will only increase as Michael continues his fight against the cancer. With Michael unable to earn anything due to his health conditions and Debbie currently having to be a full-time caregiver and advocate for him, they are under tremendous financial stress that only adds to the emotional toll of dealing with his health issues.

As of early February, Michael is in the Villages Rehab facility where he has made very promising progress in recovering from his stroke. He has been able to finally swallow real food, has made noticeable improvements in his ability to communicate verbally and non-verbally, and has demonstrated improvements in other physical abilities thanks to the dedicated therapists there. These are all very positive signs and his family and friends are all very hopeful in his making a full recovery from the stroke but it will take significant time and resources to get him there. And Michael and Debbie will be going through this while also having to fight his stage four cancer.

As members of the larger Villages Family, we love and cherish our friends here and know that many of you will want to help this amazing couple out in these trying times. Just like the two of them would do, without hesitation, were the roles reversed and one of us were to need a little help to get through a rough patch.

Now, they need our assistance, and we are asking if you can find it in your heart to help this amazing couple through these emotionally and financially challenging times. Any amount would be appreciated and mean more to them than words could express.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts for helping this wonderful couple.