TEAM BREEN NEEDS YOUR HELP!

     Before Tuesday, December 27th, Kevin Breen was an active, hard working 44 year old husband and father who loved to spend time with his family on the lake water skiing and surfing. That night he went to Urgent Care with flu-like symptoms & stomach pain. He was sent home with some medication and told to go to the ER if he didn't feel better.  Wednesday morning he went to the ER where he was diagnosed with acute mild pancreatitis and admitted to the hospital.  
     That night, he just kept getting worse and no pain medication would help. Thursday morning the doctors performed an exploratory surgery, because Kevin was showing signs of a ruptured ulcer. When they opened him up, they found 1.5 liters of infected puss, which later was found to be a streptococcal(strep)infection.  It was never found in his blood, so the source is still unknown. 
     According to the doctors, Kevin is the second documented male in the world for this to happen to. This infection caused him to go into severe septic shock and transfer to the intensive care unit (ICU) where he was placed on a ventilator. While there, we almost lost Kevin, but he beat the odds and fought for his life.  Unfortunately, to keep him alive, they had to give him high doses of medication to keep his blood pressure up, but they also stopped the blood flow in his extremities and led to necrosis(tissue death) of his hands and feet. His kidneys shut down and he was placed on continuous dialysis to filter his blood. 
     While in the ICU, the entire staff worked endlessly to help Kevin and offered continuous prayers for his recovery. No doubt their prayers and those from friends and family are what got Kevin through.  
     Once out of the hospital, Kevin was transferred to an acute rehab hospital where the staff worked hard to help him gain strength and independence. They even made arrangements for him to go to the Grand Rapids Boat Show (boating is Kevin's passion).  While at the rehab facility, he was finally able to stop dialysis, praise God!
     After about a month at rehab, Kevin was discharged home to start his next journey.  What lies ahead for Kevin is at least 4 surgeries: complete amputation of his left hand,  amputation of multiple fingers on the right, and partial amputation of both his feet.



     Kevin has been very motivated through this journey and has been an inspiration to myself, his friends, family and the medical/rehab staff that took care of him. On behalf of Kevin and his family, I created this gofundme page to help raise money for their growing medical expenses- God willing!

Let's help Kevin and his family so he can achieve his goal of getting back on his boat, and back on his skis!

In honor of Kevin and his family, myself and a growing group of people are taking part in the Michigan Tough Mudder race in Oxford, Michigan on Saturday, June 3th 2017.  

Our goal is to raise $250,000 by raceday!

Anyone can join our team to support Kevin, just sign-up at toughmudder.com and join our group: Team Breen

Kevin and his wife Julie have shown great strength, humility, perseverance, and faith in God throughout his ongoing journey. Please consider making a donation to show your support!

" I can do all this through him who gives me strength."
                                          Phillipians 4:13
Kevin, Julie, Lilly(14), Bella(4), and Blake(3) are forever grateful for all of their family and friends who helped them get through this time.  The amount of prayers lifted up, no doubt kept Kevin alive.  They have a very long journey ahead, with many unknowns.  Please continue to pray and they will continue to be thankful for all that they still have.  Life will forever be different, but different doesn't have to be bad.