Life is tough!

Two years ago our world crashed as Mason at age 7 was diagnosed with PCD, similar to cystic fibrosis. It’s a parents worse nightmare that their child has a progressive disease and his future unknown and filled with hospital stays and treatment. Since his diagnosis, he has developed an allergy to his school where he would go into asthma attacks while being in the building so had a time of being home schooled (night school) so that both working parents could meet his academic needs with a not normal schedule. He contracted a bacteria that attacked his body and entailed 6+ hours of medical therapy a day for 3 months to fight it off, he has gone through over 20 surgical procedures, has had severe allergies to where he only goes outside when allergen counts are low, and requires the house to be cleaned constantly to the point where it takes over 20 hours a week to deep clean. He’s had some blessings in his life from the support he’s found and a school that he’s not allergic to and a wonderful medical team. His newest battle is that he’s developed food allergies seemingly overnight and had to be rushed to the ER in anaphylaxis shock. All food now has to be made from scratch and he has to take an epipen since corn and soy are in so much. Grocery costs have now increased by 4x their budgeted amount. Thru all of these challenges, the hardships aren’t just on him but on the entire family. To watch helplessly knowing that PCD is progressive and each illness can cause him a more difficult future/lung transplant/shortened life span can be at times debilitating. It’s hard enough as a parent, but as a teenager going through all the normal emotional hurdles of middle school years, this has become unbearable for his older sister. Now in addition to ongoing medical care for one child, the mental care for another is also a necessity. Mental health is just as important as physical health and the battle towards stability is just beginning. Her mental breakdown has given her a long road to recovery and unfortunately our society doesn’t always have the supportive outlook on mental health. So not only are the medical expenses adding up for one child, now the psychiatric support to help another that has few treatment options is overwhelming. As a parent, you fight with your child and for your child. Please join the fight to make this family get past the bad hand of life that they’ve been dealt and have a brighter tomorrow. With support, Erin can take unpaid FMLA when needed to advocate for her children (yes children, not just one child needing support!) and cover costs that insurance will not. Let’s take a stand to ensure that mental health can be a priority and emotional stability is a necessity that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Unfortunately the negative stigma with mental health and the fact that the supports are virtually nonexistent make this a difficult journey. Please help get this mom the financial support so that she can continue fighting for her kids to regain normalcy. No child should have to deal with so much pain and suffering, and no sibling should have to watch and feel helpless as a brother endures so much. Let’s show them that the battle isn’t over and join the fight for a brighter tomorrow for this family!