Shane Hendricks medical bills

Hello, all! I am posting this fundraiser in honor of my good friend on the fire department who has been suffering from illness related to COVID.

Here is a few words from his daughter, Elizabeth:

My name is Elizabeth Hendricks & I’m starting this fundraiser for my dad, Shane Hendricks. My dad is someone who will always help others and never ask for anything in return. If you have the time, please take a moment to read about what my dad & our family have been going through.

 

My dad has been a First Responder for nearly 10 years. He started out on his local Fire Department as a Paid On Call Firefighter. He loves serving his community and helping those who need him. In fact, he loved it so much he also started working for US Bank Stadium and Target Center as the medical staff for events at the two venues. He also was a medical instructor for police and fire stations. Loving what he was doing isn’t even a good description, he became very passionate about helping others to the point where he left his career in IT (over 23 years) and became a 911 dispatcher. Here he works to answer the call of those who need him at all hours of the day and night. When not answering the phones, he’s dispatching ambulances to get them to those who need help. He loves all his jobs and talks about them all the time.

In early August 2022, my dad became sick. He was working nearly 60 hours a week at his dispatching job and still managing a few shifts a month at the fire department. Several people contracted COVID over the last couple weeks he was at work and my dad caught it on August 8th, 2022. He took his five days leave and was feeling OK. He went back to work and, after three days of working, he ended up in the ER with chest pain and difficulty breathing. Through his primary care doctor it was found he was most likely suffering from Post COVID Syndrome (Long COVID). His health began to go down and he had a hard time walking. After a few weeks he attempted to go back to work and ended up in the ER. He began going to more specialists. Finding out his loss of balance was due to a lot of neurological issues and his eyes not functioning properly. Since this discovery there have been many doctors visits, ER visits, and the arrival of new & worsening symptoms. These worsening symptoms have left my dad practically unable to do anything without assistance. A game plan was setup to get him treatment. However, Worker’s Comp has been denying all his claims since November as they try to find ways out of helping him. We decided to use our insurance in March to start getting him what he needed, including Prism Glasses. One week after starting to use this insurance, we found out that the company he worked for canceled all our family’s insurance. Now my dad can’t get help and can’t even get the meds he needs. My parents have been able to get a more expensive insurance, but unfortunately that doesn’t cover what we had before and includes way more out of pocket expenses.

In the past couple of weeks, we have had two of our cars break down requiring service. We have had emergency repairs needed on our home. & We struggle to make ends meet with only one vehicle & only my mothers income. My parents are doing what they can to keep everything up and running but It’s been a stressful struggle.

 

My dad is tough and is a fighter but he needs help. He needs to get the treatment to start healing and get back to a normal life. These have been very difficult times for our family. It’s hard to watch my dad fall and pass out. I’m asking for help to cover the costs of his treatments, the time we need to take off work to take him to appointments, fuel money, parking costs, meds, etc. these expenses all add up over time. They have started talking about him being permanently disabled.

 

This has been a very hard few months for us and for my dad. He’s not used to needing help, when he’s always been the one to help others. Thank you for taking the time to read & please donate if you are able. If you are unable to donate we will still take all of the thoughts, prayers, & positive vibes you can give!