Strength for Our Family: Advocating for our sons health

Hello,

My name is Kelsey and I am the spouse of a very hard working man, and the mother and step mother of 3 special needs kids age 7,8,9. We are a blended family that has endured years of loss and injury. 3 years ago my step kids (age 4 and 6 at the time) lost their mother to an overdose. The same year my spouse was seriously injured at his construction job and placed on leave. It has been an extremely challenging and heartbreaking journey for us all since then.

Our 3 children all have varying special needs, but my step son has quite complex needs. Not only was he born with a diaphragmatic hernia and placed in a coma for the first 6 months of his life, but he has received about 15 health diagnosis since then with multiple surgeries including open heart surgery. We are constantly in and out of the hospital, working with specialists and advocating to keep our child alive and well. Most recently, he has been given a light diagnosis of Autism related Epilepsy. I say "light diagnosis" as they state his seizures are not typical of this condition.. they really don't know. This has turned our world upside down. Our once happy and energetic boy is now unable to do much of anything without having a seizure. We have watched his health drastically decline over the last 4 months and we have been in hospital on average 2 times a week. The doctors are unsure on how else to help him.We are now at the point that he is having multiple seizures a day. He is also experiencing many other neurological symptoms including rapid eye movements, slowed mumbled speech, confusion, lethargy etc.

All of this has been not only extremely stressful on all of us mentally and emotionally but financially as well. I have had no choice but to leave my career and stay at home full time to care for our sick child. My spouse works very hard at his current job but it is just not enough to make bills and medical/prescription costs.

We are asking for support towards our daily expenses and medical expenses associated with expensive prescriptions and hospital visits as we try and navigate this challenging time and come up with a longer term solution. Currently, we are spending roughly $2500 per month on prescriptions and costs associated with constant travel and stay in hospital.

If you have made it this far I really appreciate you even reading this, from the bottom of my heart. I am not one to ever ask for help, but we have no family or friends here or in the position to help. We are hoping to raise enough to get us by for a short while so we can focus on our child's health.

Anything at all is greatly appreciated to help towards a new and better life for our family. These kids have been through so much and we just want to be able to provide for them without the constant worry of how we are going to make it to our next payday.