Hello, first of all thank you for even taking the time to look at this! I'm Ripley Stephens and this year has been a whirlwind for my family. I apologize in advance if this is really long. This fundraiser is what my family needs to stay afloat during this tumultuous time of our lives. Making this is actually really hard for myself and my mother as we've tried so hard to make ends meet and provide for the family since my father's health began to decline last November. But at this point, we need help and we're hopeful that our community can help. Okay, a little bit more about our situation the last couple months. In November, my dad went in for a routine test that ended with him being rushed to the hospital. He had open heart surgery the very next day, on his birthday. At this point everything was supposed to be relatively easy with his recovery and our lives would go back to normal once he came home. Unfortunately, that's not what happened. After being discharged from the hospital following his first surgery, he was supposed to go to a skilled nursing facility for rehab and from there he'd come home. The facility he was sent to ignored him after he arrived, not even helping him get into bed and did not follow up after he told them repeatedly that he was experiencing abdominal pain. It wasn't until my mom and I arrived that he was sent out to the hospital again. The hospital spent days disregarding my dad and telling him he wasn't a patient, all while my dad had a massive GI bleed which almost killed him. On 12/14/22, we got the first of many terrifying calls, my dad was on a vent in the ICU and he might not make it. All of this was only the beginning of our journey. From there my dad was in and out of the hospital, barely spending a day at home before he'd be sent back. Doctors were clueless about what was wrong and were beginning to not take him seriously. None of the tests they ran were indicating what was wrong and none of the doctors were willing to look at the big picture, all the while my dad was getting sicker and sicker. He spent over a month in the hospital, basically wasting away and suffering as doctors made various plans to discharge him that all fell through. He lost so much weight because he couldn't eat or swallow food as a result of the stomach problems he'd been having and the trauma to his esophagus. It was hard on the entire family; my brothers felt off balance with our dad being so sick and me and my mom were struggling to make ends meet and support my dad at the hospital. The only good news came when a doctor finally listened to us and took a look at my dad's history for the last three years, along with his symptoms and figured out the likely culprit behind his illness. This led to my dad being diagnosed with MEN-1 syndrome which can cause tumors to grow on the parts of your endocrine system along with other things, all of which my dad experienced. The diagnosis was supposed to be a turning point and in some ways it was. We finally knew why he was sick and what might need to be done and how it could possibly be treated but unfortunately he was still sick and the local doctors were out of their depths when it came to treating him. Once he was discharged, it was a whirlwind of appointments and hospital stays and medication changes. He dealt with multiple GI bleeds and ulcers and he still couldn't eat, could barely swallow anything. During this time he also received a cancer diagnosis after two tumors were found during a endoscopic ultrasound. This all has led to his most recent hospital admission, which is where he is currently. On 7/4, he woke up throwing up blood and was rushed from the hospital where he would later be transferred to a different hospital better able to treat him. On 7/10 he had a surgery to remove the tumors from his pancreas and stomach – the two we already knew about plus an additional one they found before surgery. There was complications during the surgery and they had to repair a hole in his stomach that they had no idea was there. Even though the surgery went well initially, he was rushed into an emergency surgery on 7/14 because the hole had reopened because the tissue of his stomach was in such bad condition because of all the problems he'd been having. Thankfully, the surgery went well and he is doing okay now but he's still being monitored and will not be discharged any time soon. This last month (not even a full month since it’s barely the middle of July), has been crazy for my family. On top of my dad going back to the hospital, my mom was laid off at her full time job, due to a lack of business, as of July 1st. She’s been trying to pick up hours at an on-call position but she’s been unable to during this time because we’ve had to travel back and forth from our home to the hospital which is roughly 40 minutes away from where we live, usually longer if you count traffic. I’ve been working as much as possible, but for the same reasons I’ve struggled to work some shifts or pick up extra shifts because of my dad’s condition. During all this our washer also broke so we’ve had to spend money that we hadn’t planned in order to do laundry. It’s all been really chaotic and stressful and that’s why we need some help. The money that we’re asking for, even a fraction of it, would go towards gas so we can get to the hospital and the laundromat and doctors appointments as well as food for my brothers and late fees for our rent that we need to pay. Our landlord is already threatening legal actions to evict us. Honestly, any donations would help even just a small amount so we can get around. Thank you so much if you’ve taken the time to read this!
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