Berthoud Weekly Surveyor | Covering all the angles in the Garden Spot

A family crisis: “I just want my brother to get better”

January 25, 2023 | Community News

By Terry Georgia
The Surveyor

Julie Swegan-Thompson is ready to donate one of her kidneys to save her brother’s life, but after years of disappointments and delays, the mounting costs of medical care have forced her family to the brink of financial catastrophe.
After growing up in Berthoud and Loveland, Dave Swegan had just graduated from the police academy in 2011 when he was suddenly struck with pain in his legs so severe he couldn’t walk. He ended up in intensive care as doctors struggled to figure out what was wrong. A strong and athletic young man, his condition was a mystery.
Eventually, doctors tracked the problem to Dave’s kidneys, a rare condition called focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), in which scar tissue develops where the kidneys filter waste from the blood. The disease causes terminal kidney failure which affects the whole body. As the kidneys fail, patients eventually need dialysis, but even with dialysis, the kidneys continue to deteriorate until a transplant is necessary. In the years following his diagnosis, Dave did well on medications, but his health continued to decline. By 2018 he was on dialysis.
Dave was placed on the transplant list by the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical system in 2019. There was finally hope. A transplant would be difficult, but it could also mean a second chance at life. Then came the pandemic. All elective surgeries were canceled as hospitals became overwhelmed with COVID patients. A kidney transplant is considered elective surgery, so Dave was off the transplant list and had to continue dialysis despite his worsening condition.
About six years after his diagnosis, Dave became too weak to work. Forced onto disability, he had to move in with his mother and step-father, Maryanne and David Mesple of Berthoud. Dave’s three sons were living with their mother nearby. Maryanne became Dave’s primary caregiver, setting aside her business to care for her son. She threw herself into managing his illness and finding a kidney donor. Dave’s stepfather, who works as an art professor at Rocky Mountain College of Art & Design, became the sole breadwinner for a family with quickly mounting expenses.
“I would rather not have to sell our house,” Maryanne said when describing the financial strain of the expenses she knows still lie ahead, “but this has put us in deep financial trouble.” She remains positive though, as she celebrates the renewed possibility of a kidney transplant for her son.
Dave’s condition became a crisis again early last year when his kidney failure led to a heart attack. His younger sister, Julie Swegan-Thompson was summoned home for what she thought was the end of her brother’s life. “We didn’t think he’d make it,” she said from her home in Woodburn, Oregon, “[the disease] had changed him so much I didn’t even recognize him.”
As Dave struggled to recover from the heart attack, his sister was tested and found to be a perfect donor match. She would be able to give one of her kidneys to save her brother’s life. The siblings went through test after test last March. Everything was looking good as the family prepared for the two surgeries. Everyone was on board, apprehensive, but excited. All they needed was a date for the transplant. Then Maryanne stumbled on a note in her son’s Anschutz medical records that devastated her. The transplant team had denied the surgery and hadn’t bothered to let the family know. A flurry of phone calls followed, but the Anschutz team stuck by their denial. They deemed Dave too big a risk for the transplant. He was off the list again. The family was back at square one.
“Watching my brother deteriorate has been one of the hardest things of my life,” said Julie, fighting back tears, “I just want my brother to get better and my mom to have this weight lifted from her.” Julie worried that this setback would add even more financial strain to the already strapped family. As a full-time nursing student, Julie and her husband are also struggling to ensure Julie can make the trip from Oregon and take the time for her own recovery after the donor surgery. She’s covered by her husband’s insurance, but they exhausted all of his family leave and paid time off prior to the Anschutz denial.
After months of scrambling for another option, Presbyterian-St. Luke’s hospital in Denver recently agreed to take Dave’s case and do the transplant. Julie has to return to Colorado later this month for new rounds of testing and, hopefully, the surgery that could give her brother a chance to recover. Surgery is risky for Julie too, but she is more excited for her brother than scared for herself. “I’m excited to do it because I want to see my brother get better so he can go fishing with his sons.”
Maryanne is extraordinarily proud of the sacrifices her son and daughter are making, but she also worries about the impending debt she and her husband will bear in the months to come. She anticipates expenses amounting to at least $100,000.00 to cover transportation costs, housing, and other expenses not covered by insurance. Dave will need to be in the hospital for two to four weeks after the surgery, then will need to be nearby for multiple checkups for an additional two weeks. Julie will be in the hospital for about three days but won’t be released to go home to Oregon for at least a week after that. The family will need to pay for accommodations near the hospital for more than a month. And Dave will need another place to live because his post-transplant immune system will require a home without pets or other potential sources of infection. His parent’s 100-year-old farmhouse won’t be safe for him anymore. And then there’s the 10 thousand dollars Maryanne figures Dave will need to obtain training for a new career since he will no longer be able to realize his dream to become a police officer.
According to a 2019 CNBC report on several academic studies, “two-thirds of people who file for bankruptcy cite medical issues as a key contributor to their financial downfall.” Maryanne Mesple is desperately trying to avoid that outcome. She has started a Go Fund Me page to try to help defray at least some of the costs. “If people read about my son, whether they can help or not, I hope they will reach out to family members and those around them to ask how they can help. You just don’t know what people are going through,” Maryanne said of her request for help from the community.
If all goes well, Dave and Julie’s transplant surgeries could happen in the coming weeks.
Anyone wishing to help the family can make a donation through www.gofundme.com/f/daves-new-life or email Maryanne directly at [email protected].

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