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2 year old Grandson died.

C

cigars

New member
Hello fellow riders.
Oct 4th, we lost our little Rhory James to a damned virus. The Medical Examiner found he had Respiratory Syncytial Virus & Human Parainfluenza Virus type 3. Apparently the virus caused a lack of oxygen to his brain resulting in his death.
His 2nd birthday was Sept 30, a Tuesday and we were over at our Son's house for the party. Little Rhory was not feeling too good, didn't want cake or presents, just wanted his daddy to hold him and he bopped a few balloons around.

The next morning he woke up with a slight fever, so Zac took him to the docs to get checked out. They thought it was mild pneumonia and treated with antibiotics and sent him home.
The next morning Rhory woke up and couldn't swallow very well or even stand up, so Zac rushed him back to the hospital and they did an MRI and other tests. The results prompted a call for Life Flight to chopper him from Lewiston, ID up to Sacred Heart Children's hospital in Spokane, WA where after more tests and treatments, little Rhory died Saturday, just 4 days after his birthday. It happened so fast, we were all in shock.

Well the medical bills have started coming in and although Zac works full time for ATK (ammunition co) and has insurance, the insurance has denied payment on the $36,855 Life Flight bill and only partial coverage on several others.
My 23 year old son is facing over $40,000 in medical expenses and climbing.
So as a result, I have been parting out my beautiful 02 Meanstreak of some of it's upgrades and will be selling the bike to help Zac with some of the bills and we're trying everything else we can think of so he's not financially ruined as well as losing his 2 year old boy.
rhory2014-2.jpg
http://www.gofundme.com/i88o9o
God bless, Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday season to you all. For those with little ones/grandkids etc...hug them every chance you get.
 
My heart felt condolences to the parents, you and your family. I cannot imagine a more tragic loss.
 
God has another sweet angel. So sorry for what you are going through right now. Not mine nor yours to question the why; but for me, to just try.....TRY.....to ACCEPT HIS will............oh, so sorry BUD.....God bless YOU.........Dennis
 
Thanks everyone. Yes, it's been extremely difficult. As Christmas grows near, we've noticed Zac not wanting to be at his house much either. He's been spending more and more time here so I know it's really tough for him. Christmas this year will surely be a difficult one.
I just wanted to share a pic from last Christmas with you all that I ran across yesterday. He was so funny on the little ATV we bought him. Was prepping him for a BMW one day. :)
rhory2013.jpg
 

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Words are not enough

What a tragic and heart wrenching loss. May your family find a way to gain strength from each other. :cry
 
I thought of something else this morning. Insurance companies always negotiate lower costs. Because of this, I believe providers inflate their costs. However, they bill the higher rate to individuals without insurance. I'll leave my comments out on what I think of this practice, but your son needs to contact the provider(s) and negotiate a lower costs. I've heard most providers will lower the bill if asked; however, I don't have first hand knowledge of this.
 
88bmwjeff said:
I thought of something else this morning. Insurance companies always negotiate lower costs. Because of this, I believe providers inflate their costs. However, they bill the higher rate to individuals without insurance. I'll leave my comments out on what I think of this practice, but your son needs to contact the provider(s) and negotiate a lower costs. I've heard most providers will lower the bill if asked; however, I don't have first hand knowledge of this.
Click to expand...

I've thought for years that the best health care reform that could have been enacted would have been a law that says that a provider cannot charge more for a service for an uninsured patient than they charge for their lowest negotiated rate with any insurer. Simple and effective.
 
Sorry for your loss.

Look into the possibility of assistance for these medical bills. There may be a program for that; there is one in New York.

Harry
 
What a heartbreaking loss. I can't even fathom the pain.

Appeal the denials and negotiate with the providers.
 
kurt1305;966389... Appeal the denials and negotiate with the providers.[/QUOTE said:
Absolutely! Getting that notice from the insurance company damn near did him in though. Yeah, I know I'm biased...as I should be :), but dang-it I am so proud of Zac and how he's handling his life. At just 23 he's got a great job with a great company that pays his immediate bills. Still it's paycheck to paycheck living, but he keeps his sh!t together better than a lot of folks do. Doesn't party/go out all the time. Has a great relationship with a young lady that has a 1 year old boy that Zac treats as his own and one day hopes to adopt.
I told him there are ways to appeal the insurance decision and that I imagine Life Flight will appeal it also.
The bills from the Children's hospital "I think" have all come through. I know I saw all the sheets for all the individual physicians, xray techs and support staff come across. I didn't see one for the ICU room Rhory was in, so not sure about that yet. Also haven't seen anything from the 2 local hospitals he was at yet either, but have seen 2 local doctors bills come through.

He's got a long tough road ahead of him, but all this also gives him something to keep his mind occupied on and an outlet for whatever anger resides in him.

We keep him close when he needs it, and give him space when he needs it, but he's really doing well at keeping his life moving forward through it all.

As of today, he's facing $8700 in medical unpaid by insurance + $36,855 for LifeFlight. $45,555 total which is mid boggling for a young man who didn't get to bring his son home. This is why the fundraiser event. There was even a local bake sale silent auction held to help with expenses and a few local business donated gift cards etc. Was pretty cool to see the community help out a bit.

Thank you all for your kind words and support.
Click to expand...
 
One Possibility...

I will never understand this kind of loss never having children. My closest would be the loss of my parents. That in itself is a "natural" order of things. Not losing a child.
After reading the posts about medical bills my first thought (after anger) was "CrowdFunding".
--
"Consider crowdfunding. Sites like GoFundMe.com and GiveForward.com, which have both been utilized by victims of the Boston Marathon bombing, allow people to mobilize by collecting money and sharing the person's story in a meaningful way. And while so-called "crowdfunding" sites have a ton of success stories in raising money for worthy causes, it's important to recognize that these nonprofit sites have costs of their own and take a percentage of what is collected (GiveForward.com takes 7 percent and GoFundMe.com takes 5 percent)."

http://money.usnews.com/money/perso...13/05/02/how-to-raise-money-for-medical-bills

Here is a GOOGLE Search Result regarding Crowdfunding.

--
Asking for money after such a horrific blow carries no stigma in my eyes. AT ALL. Considering the amount of money that is now allowed to grease the political machine in this Country.
Keep the MOA abreast of what your family decides to do with this horrible situation.

Lastly my condolences to YOU and your Family dealing w/ this tragedy.

~ Jim
 
grafikfeat said:
Keep the MOA abreast of what your family decides to do with this horrible situation.

Lastly my condolences to YOU and your Family dealing w/ this tragedy.

~ Jim
Click to expand...

Thank you Jim. We DID receive a Christmas miracle! The Life Flight bill has been covered!! Just learned of this yesterday. My son was so excited and relieved. Not sure if it was his calls or Life Flight battling Blue Cross, but it's been paid off.
A tremendous weight off his shoulders so now he's down to around $9,000 instead of $46,000+ in medical bills.
We've change the GoFundMe goal to reflect this as well from $40,000 original down to $5,000.

http://www.gofundme.com/i88o9o

Christmas is going to be extremely difficult this year with the absence of Rhory hanging over us all, but at least Zac is not feeling defeated with such an overwhelming debt.

I'd like to personally thank everyone again for their support during all of this. Happy to be a member of the MOA and we're looking forward to meeting a bunch of you at the Montana Rally! We've already booked the hotel. :)
 
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