Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Matthew's Story-Please Read

I'm posting this on behalf of an old friend of mine from years ago.  He helped me through what I consider one of the hardest periods of my life in my late teens/early college years, and we have recently reconnected through FB.  And now, I want to help him and little Matthew through this extremely hard time in their lives.  So here it goes.  I think the best way to explain it is by using my friends words(I hope you don't mind, DH).


In case you've missed it, this is where I've been the past week. The little guy on the right in this picture is Matthew, a special needs kid we know who happens to be a whiz at repairing anything from lawnmowers to cell phones (that’s how 
he earned his spending money) and who is Aiden's best and only friend at school. In fact, they're such good buddies that they'd planned on going trick or treating together on Halloween.

About an hour or so before he was supposed to come over, Matthew was hit by an SUV while riding his bike. I won't go into details as the list of broken bones and damaged organs is frighteningly long. Suffice to say, he's in bad shape. Yeah, that bad. I was lucky enough to see him on Sunday and I can tell you that's the hardest thing I've ever experienced. And there is no way to tell what else we’ve lost until he gets through these first issues.

He's been in a coma since it happened, though now they've deepened it with medications in order to keep some of the swelling down. He's had good days, if you can call them that, and he's had bad days. All in the space of a week. It's hard to imagine what his family is going through during all of this, even having been in the PICU with my own touch and go situations. His mother, probably from having dealt with hardship enough already and I'm sure from having been drained by her current pain, is keeping it together pretty well. But she needs help. They need help.

The reason I'm bringing this up is to ask a favor. While they have things covered with immediate medical bills, it's going to be hard to care for him going forward without someone being with him on a daily basis for the next year, if not longer. And insurance only covers medical, not food or clothes or normal daily expenses. We're working with his school and the Denton school district to see if a service can be established to take in monetary donations for them. I need you guys to help make this mean something. It doesn't have to be much, but I also know what I have that I can probably do without that would go a long way to making their lives a little easier.

We don't have any details yet, but if you wish, you can send something to Misti or myself and we'll add it to the funds. Message me and I can give you our address or whatever is determined to be the best method of donation should anything change.

Whichever choice you make, thanks for at least taking the time to read this.

If you have the strength and wish to keep up with his progress, they’ve established a Caring Bridge site where updates are posted and thoughts and prayers shared.




http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/matthewernst


So what I am asking is if you would please pray for Matthew, his doctors and caregivers, his family, and his friends during this time.  He continues to make improvements daily, but has had some setbacks.  This little boy needs our help and I know that his family would so much appreciate your prayers and thoughts.  I am also asking if you could help by donating whatever you can.  As DH mentioned above, they are still working on getting a home base for donations( monetary or otherwise) set up.  As soon as I have this information, I will update you.

Please pray for Matthew!





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