What do, driving, our children’s baseball/football games, walking, holding a coffee cup, or even just drying your own hair have in common? Well, they are life’s little gifts that can easily be lost in a moment’s notice. These are just a few of the things that Tonya has prayed to God to “not let the locusts consume.” We are certainly grateful for the things that the Lord has given us. We continue to pray with optimism that she recovers her ability to do the little everyday tasks independently as quickly as possible. In the, end we just want to be able to get back to enjoying our 2 young boys, our family, and our friends. So, this brings me to our life-twist. As you may or may not know, my wife Tonya has RRMS (Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis.) There is no cure for it, & we are totally fine with that at this point in our lives. She’s tried so many different things to manage her symptoms over the past 13 years… diet, daily MS drug injections, holistic treatments… In fact, she’s gone from 100% holistic all the way to bleeding-edge big pharma B-Cell Therapy. The new B-Cell Therapy works in a way that gets rid of the rogue white blood cells that attack her immune system while allowing her body to build healthy white blood cells. Things seemed to be going well until this past Christmas. Tonya was paralyzed on the right side of her body and her speech was slurred. A team of Neurologists worked on our case for 16 days and still could not explain exactly what happened or what caused the onset. The B-Cell Therapy is a brand-new treatment, so some of the long-term side effects are an unknown at this point. All they know is that they cannot determine whether or not she had an MS Relapse or an MS related Stroke. The brain lesion is in an unusual location that the neurologists have yet to be able to explain. We don’t want to sound defeated, because are NOT, but MS has taken us on a very difficult journey, and we have been told that there is always a chance that she won’t fully recover what she’s lost. We are certainly looking for ways to stop the future progression of her brain lesions. There are Stem Cell therapies in the United States that have shown great progress, but they range between$100,000-$200,000 per trial and have an extremely limited capacity. We may end up going that route, but for now we are just focused on her recover and trying to get our finances back on track. So, all of this brings us to this moment… as of right now, our medical bills are piling up and while I am blessed to have a great career, that may not be enough. Tonya is no longer able to work and while there are some assistance programs out there, we’ve been told that her disability claim could take between 6 months and 2 years to be approved. So, at this point we are reaching out to our family, friends, and community to ask for help with getting our lives back on track. It’s the little things in life that matter. If there is one thing, we leave you with is that God is Great, life is good, and everything always works out… Even if it’s not in the way you’ve planned. We are grateful for those who choose to help as well as those who can’t. We wish you a joyful and prosperous year in 2022. A big “Thank you” from the Tibbetts-Kindel family for taking the time to read through this.
