Urgent Request....

Today I have a story to tell, and you are the most caring people I can think of to share it with.
When our son Justin was 17, he was in a sledding accident that left him with a spinal fracture. That's been 10 years ago.
In that time, he has graduated from college, gotten married, has two children (Alexis 2 1/2, and Daniel 11 months) and is working and living in Huntsville, Texas. A few years ago, he and his wife felt led to move from Lake Jackson, Tx to Huntsville in order that Justin might accept a position working for a ministry. He is in a management position at a 286 acre, independent not-for-profit Christian Camp called Forest Glen. Their mission is to bring the great news of salvation in Jesus to children from the public school system, as well as to encourage believers to move forward in God's will for their lives. There's a website that you can look at if you're interested. (Just Google Forest Glen, Huntsville Tx)
About 5-6 months ago Justin began experiencing a new surge of back pain. He went to the Dr., who has spent these past months exhausting all options covered by the HMO. Three weeks ago, Justin was told that if he didn't have surgery within the next few weeks, he was facing paralysis from the waist down. In addition to the intense back pain, he already has numbness and weakness in the left leg, and drop foot. The options for this otherwise healthy young man are limited. He is presently scheduled for surgery this Tues., which is to relieve the pain and threat of paralysis. The awful part is that this is medically considered a "traumatic surgery" because more damage has to be created in order to relieve the pressure on the injured nerve caused by the rupture, so there will be permanent damage where bone has to be removed and does not grow back. The surgeon would be cutting muscle and tendons, and removing pieces of bone. Justin has been told that he will then need multiple surgeries down the road. He has three bad discs, and this is only for one disc.
Here's the twist to this story.....there IS another option that is called a non-traumatic surgery. A brain surgeon modified a method used in neurosurgery that also works on the back. There was
a special report about it on ABC and on NBC, and the good news is that there's a 96% success rate. This method has been used to fix spines for at least 12 yrs that I know about. (We've been doing a LOT of research.)
By now, you're probably wondering why I'm sharing all of this. Well, here's the most difficult part for me to say.....Justin cannot afford this treatment. This surgery is not available to most people because it's so expensive. Insurance companies want the cheapest thing they can get by with, even though Justin would be left partially disabled and would need future surgeries that would probably cost more in the long run. This non-traumatic surgery would fix all three discs immediately, and permanently.

Again, here are the options:

#1---traumatic surgery that partially removes one disc, does nothing to the other two for now, leaves him partially disabled, and facing multiple surgeries in the future, and costs him personally $3000.

#2---non-traumatic surgery that fixes all three discs immediately and permanently, has a high success rate, but is not covered at all by insurance, for $30,000!

I'm telling you all of this so that I might humbly ask for your help. You must know how hard this is for us, either way. I'll do anything I have to in helping change the outcome of the rest of our son's life. If you can gift ANY amount, you can buy a piece of a miracle. If you just can't help financially, do you know another way? Is there something you wanted to get rid of that would bring in a few bucks? Were you going to make a charitable donation to a cause that has more help available than Justin does? Do you know somebody

to share this letter with that might be willing to help? Can you pass the info along to them? Do you have flight miles that could get him and his wife to California for free?

I must sound a bit desperate.....because I am. He has just one day to make this decision. It's huge, no matter what. No bank will loan money for surgery.....

I AM sorry to have to ask you, but we really need help. I believe God is in this, so my obedience is essential.....

Please consider this seriously, pray about it, and contact us immediately if you think you can help. Thank you all for being the family that you are.
All my love,
Debi