When a routine surgery turned into an emergency ICU hospital stay, the lives of Medi-Share members Baron and Kellye were shaken up in an instant. Yet their faith in God continues to be the solid ground they stand on.
Kellye and Baron joined Medi-Share in 2017 when they shifted career paths to independent contracting. The couple found that Medi-Share made the most financial sense for them, and Kellye also says she appreciated that Medi-Share was easy to use and accepted everywhere they went.
In May of 2023, Baron had to go on a work trip to California. Kellye went out to meet him, and the two of them drove back home to Nebraska together. On the road trip, Baron started to experience abdominal pain, but thought perhaps it was due to the upheaval of traveling.
But when the pain continued a few days after getting back home, he decided to go to urgent care. There, they recommended that he go to the hospital for evaluation. Before long, a surgical team was called in for an emergency appendectomy.
Because appendectomies are fairly common, Kellye says that she and Baron weren’t overly concerned, aside from the immediate shock of needing surgery. However, during the procedure, everything changed quickly when Baron had an unexpected reaction to the anesthesia.
“It changed our entire life,” Kellye says.
As it turns out, Baron has a rare gene mutation that causes a severe, life-threatening condition called malignant hyperthermia. Symptoms of malignant hyperthermia include muscle rigidity, increased body temperature, and highly-elevated heart rate.
“They say it’s like running multiple marathons back-to-back, then squatting and bench pressing like 800 pounds,” Kellye recalls.
Malignant hyperthermia happens so quickly that anesthesiologists actually have an MH crash cart in order to immediately administer an antidote drug and stabilizing care. However, even then, the reaction has already taken such a devastating toll that patients never really recover.
Kellye describes Baron’s current condition as the kind of wear-and-tear that we all expect to happen over time, only it has come for him all at once. He has difficulty keeping up with people while walking and finds his regular work activities challenging. He’s had x-rays and spoken with doctors, but there’s not enough understanding in the field, and the only advice they can give him is to stay active.
After the surgery, Kellye says that they appreciated their experience with Medi-Share through a very expensive, very uncertain time. Because of the last-minute nature of Baron’s care, some administrative issues arose in the aftermath. But Medi-Share persevered on their behalf while bills got sorted out — a process that took almost two years.
“Everything was taken care of,” Kellye says. “We wouldn’t hesitate to recommend Medi-Share to anyone.”
Still, Baron’s struggling with an invisible health condition which has no cure, and it’s been difficult for both of them. Yet through it all, Kellye says they cling to faith and remind each other to stay close to the Lord, despite circumstances.
“God uses all things for a reason,” she says through deep emotion, “or He uses it for some kind of good to come out of it.”
And that’s the essence of true faith. While walking through something that’s objectively not good, faith says that God is still good and still keeps His promises – even when we don’t see it. What a beautiful testimony.
We pray comfort and continued faith over Kellye and Baron, and we’re so honored that they would be a part of our Medi-Share community.
