Michael's Story....

Michael's story starts back in high school....

Michael has had COUNTLESS concussions from middle school on up as a result of sports.  He was a ROUGH player....  and played it all:  basketball, football, track, golf, and baseball.  He has been taken off the court/field multiple times during his high school career and taken to the hospital for treatment of a concussion.  About half of the concussions he’s had he has lost consciousness and they all had effects that lasted several days before they resolved.  Finally, his junior year his family doctor said no more sports....  that was in 1989.    But that wasn't the end of his head injuries...

In 1994 he was working in a factory that made doors and a 50+ pound solid steel door fell off something above him landing on his head.  Again, he was taken unconscious to a hospital in Indiana where he was treated for a bad concussion and head injury.  After that, he went retail and did ok for while with a knock in the head here and there and maybe 1 or 2 concussions, but not as bad. 

But...  Another came in 2006.  He was the Projection Manager of a local movie theater in Winston Salem, NC and was working on a projector.  A 10,000 watt bulb was inside a metal encased box that it was housed in and exploded with Michael’s head less than an inch away from it.   He was unconscious, unresponsive, and unstable.  They worked on him for over 30 minutes before finally stabilizing him enough to transport him to to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center where he was treated for a concussion and closed head injury.  He lost a good bit of the hearing in his left ear as a result of this one and the effects lasted quite a while. 

It was in 2011 that he really started noticing a decline in his health and cognition.  Finally, August 1, 2012, Michael had surgery for Chiari Malformation with Syringomyelia (basically brain was herniating out of the skull into the spinal cord and had created a backup of spinal fluid not only in the brain that couldn't get out, but in the spinal cord that couldn't flow) after suffering for months with headaches, dizzy spells, numbness, memory loss, loss of consciousness, and aphasia.  They thought this would fix it all...  Surgery was succesful and they thought the medical scare was over.  Soon after, the Lyons family followed God's call to move across the country to Arizona in the spring of 2013 to share their story of faith and help plant a church with some other families.  

July 28, 2013 things changed again.  Michael was admitted to St. Joe Hospital in Phoenix for 3 days after an acute onset of the "headache of his life".  Since then he has been in and out of Mayo Clinic having multiple MRIs, CTs, and tests.  Not a week goes by without at least 2 appointments!  Michael has now ALSO been officially diagnosed with Pseudotumor Cerebri, High Intracranial Pressure, Hydrocephalus, and Hyperadrenergic Autonomic Insufficiency; and most recently, suspected Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy as a result of the countless head injuries he has suffered and the explosion he was in back in 2006.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain with no cure, and currently only symptomatic treatment.  Michael suffers with daily debilitating headaches caused by excess pressure on the brain because of the excess spinal fluid his body is producing.  He also suffers from , blurred vision, vision loss, tremors, difficulty with simple problem solving, inability to focus, difficulty with word finding, numbness in his hands and legs, poor hand coordination,irritability, atypical seizures, and poor balance among other issues.   Every day brings new challenges while doctors try to iron out how to best treat him without causing medication side effects or interactions.

Daily life for Michael has changed drastically!  The once workaholic man who loved spending time hiking the mountains with his family now has trouble with even the simplest of tasks like taking a shower.  Standing upright for more than 10 minutes causes his heartrate to climb and then it's followed by dizziness, blurred vision, and poor balance.  His seizures are coming more often, and are worse.  He had his first grand mal seizure in December of 2015.  Everything he does has to be planned in advance with plenty of time to take rest breaks to avoid a 911 call or hospitalziation.  

While health insurance covers a part of his medical costs, it does not cover it all and money is very tight.  Michael has been on unpaid medical leave since August of 2013.  He did not work in Arizona long enough to qualify for short term disability or paid any medical leave through his employer.  His first and second requests for SSDI disablity benefits were denied (which they were told is normal for the state of Arizona).  They are currently in the waiting game for a face to face hearing, but that process can take 12-18 months!   While they wait for financial assistance, the medical expenses of frequent appointments, tests, hospitalizations, etc. keep coming.  In addition to these already mounding medical bills,  the household expenses due to loss of income that they are facing day to day keep adding up making things quite difficult.

If you feel led to help with all of these mounding expenses, you can donate through this site.  Any funds received will be used to help Michael and his family with the travel costs and medical expenses for all appointments, copays, deductibles, other out of pocket medical expenses, day to day living expenses waiting on SSDI to be approved, and the debt incurred as a result of it all.  If you prefer to send a personal check or gift card, please click the "Contact the Organizer" button for an address to mail it to.

No matter the amount or gesture, it is all appreciated and blessed!