Help Travis Quimby and our family recover from 8 months of no income, insurmountable medical bills, and physical rebuilding, not to mention job hunting!
Travis was diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis last March and in finding that diagnosis, they found he kidney cancer. Everything was being scheduled and we were getting ready for the surgery. His job at the time made it known that once he was out of PT time, if he was off any longer, he would receive disciplinary actions and would eventually be let go (he only had 2 weeks built up…and they were going to FIRE him despite having cancer and needing surgery). He found a job willing to take him on, train him and let him return after the surgery. Due to his psoriasis issues, they actually put him on leave WITHOUT PAY until he got that cleared up (stress and multiple other factors were making it flare up really bad). That was October 2024. The last paycheck he received was mid October 2024.
Next up, the surgery. Supposed to be a partial nephrectomy to remove the cancer, at most 1 month recovery at most. Surgery went well (so we thought from what the surgeon said), until everything fell apart. The hospital would not let me stay the night, so I was at home when I got a call from Trav at 5 am the next day saying he had internal bleeding and they were taking him back in. I flew back up to the hospital and didn’t leave his side again.
he had internal bleeding for 16 HOURS. They performed an Interventional Radiology procedure to implant coils to clamp the area…a risky procedure in the fact they had to enter through the groin on the opposite side and go across the abdomen/pelvis. The bleeding was stopped, but major damage was done. There was so much blood loss, Travis needed 9 units of blood products, plasma AND platelets. They had to get the blood sitting in his abdomen out…all of this imbalance in his symptom made my worst nightmare almost come true.
I watched his vitals plummet…I watched as the nurse called the Rapid Response team, I watched as they fought to save his life. he ended up in the ICU for a few days, then stepped down to recover. All of this took a toll on his other organs, which almost lead him to need a liver transplant!
he was discharged from the hospital too soon, he said he wasn’t ready. He had gained a lot of weight in extra water/fluid and could barely move. We went home just to turn around the next day and got readmitted. Another week and a half, he was discharged just before Christmas, still with a lot of fluid, bruising, now dealing with type 2 diabetes. The meds he was on were not making any progress with the almost 60 lbs of fluid weight.
ended up going to another hospital where his liver doctor was to try to actually get better care to recover. He ended up becoming septic, had cellulitis on his side and legs and had hepatic encephalopathy. He spent a total of almost 7 weeks in and out of the hospitals (mostly in). I was able to (and needed to) stay with him. My job and coworkers were amazing and so supportive. I was able to get the time off, but almost all without pay (not enough PTO).
my parents were godsends and helped take care of our kids and held down the fort.
Travis went from 190 lbs to 263 lbs in a month, the back down to 162 in another 2 weeks. His body was pretty thin, weak and painful. now that we’re home and he’s been recovering, we’ve seen how long the road to that is. He is still trying to add muscle back and increase stamina. He is finding his way with the diabetes now that it is part of his life now. He still takes diuretics to keep the fluids off and help him regulate.
The job that made him stop working in October demoted him to PRN and hired a new full time person end of December because he was still in the hospital. He had an amazing opportunity for a sales and training job, but he missed the interview because he was in the ICU. He has applied at hundreds of jobs…either there are 500 applicants for 1 position, or it requires experience he doesn’t have. He’s limited for now because he can’t do anything too physical right now, not that he doesn’t want, he just can’t.
We’re out of every option. The money we raised early on covered my unpaid hours and I am forever grateful. Unfortunately we are really struggling, even worse now since it’s all built up. Any little bit would help and thank you so much!
