My dad is my best friend.
Richard Bowers is his name. Born in North Carolina in 1958, he had a rough run since the get go. When my dad was at the young age of eight, his parents were killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver. My dad and his brother were in the car and were severely injured as you can imagine. After being in the hospital for six months, my dad was in and out of foster homes. It was a very difficult experience.
At the age of 19 he married my beautiful mother Robin. They had three children and after 19 years moved to Denver, Colorado because my dad decided to become a missionary and Denver was where the headquarters of OMF (Overseas Missionary Fellowship) resided. Today my brother is 31, my sister is 28, and myself, 21.
After working at OMF for many years, my dad started experiencing cardiac problems. Because his missionary role required him to travel overseas,my dad was not able to travel internationally anymore. My dad ended up having two heart surgery procedures. This was the beginning of his health on a downward spiral.
THEN OUR LIVES CHANGED.
My dad had been experiencing some health problems off and on throughout his time as a missionary. One day he woke up feeling like something was not right. His health declined rapidly and he went to many doctors to see if he could gain any answers of what was going on.
After going to many doctors and having many tests done while visiting the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, we finally had some questions answered.
My dad Rick was diagnosed with Multiple System Atrophy or MSA. Which is a very rare and terminal illness that is similar to Parkinson's disease. MSA causes damage throughout the body and in his autonomic nervous system. The list goes on with all the things that MSA brings to a person. The doctors told my dad he would not live very long. Hearing that news was the worst day of my life.
Fortunately, it has been three years now and we have made the most of every single day. The sad part is the longer my dad is alive, the bills for oxygen, morphine, hospital and doctors bills.
As you can imagine, medical bills has caused our family to be in a tough place. He has thousands upon thousands of dollars in debt because of his medical bills. MSA causes one to have an UNBEARABLE amount of pain, to the point where my dad has had to get a morphine pump surgically implanted into his side which attaches to his spine and gives him a VERY high amount of morphine every day so he can manage his pain. My dad tries to be happy but he is so worried we will lose our home because of his disease. The bill collectors have no compassion for him they just want his money.
I stumbled upon this website and was amazed by its support. I want my dad's story to be known and i want our family to be able to work through this time. The money raised would help with the medical bills and to pay for the morphine pump.
