Hello everyone, I'm starting this fundraiser for my stepdad Dave 'snakebite' Flenner. He a husband , father and a grandfather of 5. He was a steam fitter for over 33 years until he was forced to retire due to health complications. Most of you know and helped when he contracted a blood infection in Oct. 2022 and had to have open heart surgery in January 2023 to replace to heart valves. Even though he was very high risk because of his sick liver and only 30% survive that strain of infection, his surgery was a success. He was doing so good. Then in the Fall of 2024 he started not doing well and had to be hospitalized in November. Then they found a tumor on his liver, it was cancer. During this time his body started to take on fluid. He made it almost impossible for him to do anything outside of home. He had to start getting fluid drained weekly. On January 20th he had radiation beads placed into the liver on the cancer. He then had a test done to make sure one of the valves was working properly in case of a future surgery. But then on Feb 12th he got sick and was up all night which lead to him become very confused and caused him to fall which my 16 yr old sister witnessed. My mom had to send him by ambulance to AHN on Feb 13th. He was extremely dehydrated, kidneys were shutting down and liver was very sick. They started him on fluids and he also needed blood transfusions. They then decided they needed to start all the tests needed to get approved for a liver transplant. His meld score was very high at 37 out of 40. He was officially approved and placed on the list on Feb. 21st. They found a liver Sunday night and had his transplant Feb. 24th. Everything went well with no serious complications. He was sedated until Tuesday afternoon. He has had a few set backs due to the fluid in his body so dialysis had to be started. They have removed alot of fluid but he has more to get off. He has been in ICU this whole time and has been able to stand and take a few steps recently. He will be moving out of ICU on March 7 onto another floor. After that he will go to a rehab to help him get back to daily functions. My mom only has so many paid days off and has already used some. She will need to take at least a week off when he is released from the rehab. She has also had added expenses like gas,parking,grabbing quick meals,etc. The expenses that are going to come up(not covered) for all of this medical care and medicines he has to be on are not known yet. They also need to put a filter system on their water so it's safe for Dave to use. My mom also needs to get him a new recliner to sleep in because his other one is broke, and it is painful to lay flat. His diet needs are also going to be a huge change as there are items not allowed. He will have lots of appts. weekly. As of now there will be at least 3 days of dialysis, 2 days to get lab work and 1 day for liver transplant clinic. So the costs of getting him to all these are also unknown. We are asking for help so these things will be covered and to help them focus on his healing. We appreciate everyone who helped in the past and now. It is appreciated more than you will ever know. God has blessed us with amazing doctors ,nurses, caregivers, friends and family. We are so grateful. Please help with what you can and get us close to our goal. If you can't help please share this. Prayers are also accepted. God Bless you & Thank you!
I want to add that on Thursday April 3rd Dave went into cardiac arrest. They were able to get a pulse back after a few minutes. He was intubated until Sunday April 6th. He is awake and breathing well. We are awaiting test results. He is following commands and moving. We are not sure how long his recovery will be now. He's been in the hospital since Feb 13th. We are praying that God lays his hands on him and heals him fast so he can get back home to his family. Thank you for your support.
