Support Mike Ragonese's Fight Against ALS

My Name is Sandy Farrell and I am a friend of the Ragonese family. I have created this account for them in order to help with Mike’s growing medical expenses in his fight against ALS. Mike and his family are by far some of the most kind hearted and generous people I have ever met, and if we can help them in any way during this difficult time I know they would be forever grateful.

Mike was enjoying life and his last few years working before retirement when ALS turned his life upside down. With his first grandchild on the way and the excitement of being able to enjoy this time in his life with his family this was an unexpected turn that is quickly impacting his health as well as their savings due to Mike needing to step away from work.

For those of you who don't know Michael, he is a husband, married to his wife Maria for 40 years. He is a father to his daughter, Briana, and grandfather to 11 month old grandson, Vincent Michael. Michael worked as a project Manager for most of his career. He is also a man of faith and has spent much of his life working in various church ministries especially cooking for/feeding the homeless which is his passion.

On October of 2022, he fell while walking the family dog. It was a rainy night and he thought he just slipped on the muddy lawn. He had no way of knowing that fall would lead to a diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gerig's Disease) less then 8 months later. Those words were the most devastating words Michael and Maria ever heard in their lives and the furthest diagnosis from their minds.

After visiting several nuerologists he and Maria found no hope. They were only given a plan for progression and End of Life.

Mike and Maria refused to accept this end result and went on their own quest for answers ... And answers they found at BodyScience Functional Medicine Clinic in Miami where they are doing cutting edge research and application for Nuero degenerative diseases such as ALS, MS Parkinsons and Alzhiemers. BodyScience is successfully sending ALS into remission and in some cases completly reversing symptoms. They knew this was the place Mike needed to be to get better. He has too many things to look forward to than to give up and let this disease win.

By the time they made the decision to head to Body Science in January 2023, Mike had progressed from walking with a cane, to a walker and finally was wheelchair bound and could no longer move his legs, he had severe brain fog and no energy. After the first week at BodyScience the muscles in Mike's legs began to respond and his energy increased. He left BodyScience full of hope and with a game plan to return in 2 months. Unfortunately Mike had a set back in between that time. He developed a blood clot between his liver and pancreas and had to be hospitalized for a week delaying his return to BS and causing his motor nueron disease to progress. Mike's arms and voice began to weaken. However, he fought his way back and he and Maria returned to BodyScience two weeks later for the next round of therapy.

It takes an average of 17-24 months to stop progression and put this dreaded disease into remission. Unfortunately none of these treatments are covered by insurance. There is also the added cost of travel and lodging for 2 weeks each time they go back to Florida for treatments (which is currently every 6-8 weeks). Michael and Maria also have the added expense of needing to take an additional caregiver with them since Michael is currently wheelchair bound and Maria is unable to move him without assistance.

I'm very happy to report since Mike's hospitalization in March and additional visits to BodyScience, Mike's energy is good, brain fog is gone, and he is gaining more muscle movement/connection in his legs. The inflammatory burden is decreasing and Mike is on the precipice of turning a corner toward recovery. The next step for Michael would be Stem Cell Therapy and Transplant which has yielded very good results for patients with MND. This has the best chance of stopping disease progression and further expediting his functional recovery. The cost of Intrathecal Stem Cell Therapy is $24,000 per infusion. The cost of the Transplant is $11,000 per treatment. Two therapies of each are recommended for best results. They also will need further clinical visits for monitoring, evaluation and or additional therapy as recommended.

Please consider donating to this beautiful family. Any and all help to offset some of these costs will help alleviate some stress during this time for the Ragonese family. If Mike can focus on fighting and healing, and his family can focus on supporting him, then hopefully he can get to a place of remission and continue enjoying time with his family and doing things he loves!

Maria will be providing updates on the account as well, so please follow along this family and their journey to fight ALS.