The medical journey never ends...

Hi, my name is Jill, and I'm fundraising for my friend Darren's continuing medical journey. Darren was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when he was 12 and had his first bowel resection, which was a total colectomy, when he was 18, over 20 years ago. Over the years, his condition has deteriorated, and he needs surgery again. His GI specialist cannot do the specialized surgery he needs and is sending him to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Darren has been on state disability (SSDI) for seven years now, and the cost of traveling, a hotel stay, and transportation to and from the appointments is not something that is easily paid for or budgeted for on a fixed income. Especially when you have two school-aged children to care for. His consultation appointment at the Mayo Clinic is quickly approaching in July. He will have multiple trips from Kansas to Minnesota, with the first being just a consultation. He'll be required to remain there for 3-5 days in case they need to do additional testing. That's multiple nights at a hotel where he'll be forced to eat fast food or restaurant food, and that cost adds up quickly. Best case scenario would be for him to fly to and from the Mayo Clinic for each appointment, instead of driving himself, but that will all be determined by how much money is raised. He's anticipating each trip to cost $500-$1000 (depending on availability and the amount of nights he's required to stay) just for hotels. At the bare minimum, he'll need to fly to and from his surgery. Any funds raised that are not spent directly on car rentals, fuel, flights, food, or hotels will be spent on the medical bills that will undoubtedly follow. Any support you can give will be less that Darren needs to worry about, so he can focus on healing and recovery. Thank you for helping my friend!