As you probably know, Lance Barnes, husband of our dear friend and colleague, Kathy Mesch, lived a very active life prior to the tragic surfing accident that changed their lives forever. In addition to a broken back and neck, an injury to his spinal cord resulted in paralysis from the waist down.
Lance began intense therapy eight months post-injury with minimal nervous system activity but could detect some deep and light touch. Prior to therapy, while being treated in the hospital, he had normal sensation in his feet but that feeling slowly began to diminish.
Through sheer determination, Lance has been able to make progress. He has shown considerable advancement with more tone and stabilization to his core and overall endurance has notably improved.
Lance is one of the millions of Americans without medical insurance. Discontinuing therapy at this point would cause considerable digression. For him to be denied future therapy due to lack of funds would only compound this tragedy. During the past three years, Kathy and Lance have powered through multiple setbacks and triumphs. Fiercely proud and independent, they’ve endured challenge after challenge. Only recently have they agreed to allow their friends and family to fundraise for them.
A fundraising campaign has been established in Lance’s honor with Help Hope Live to help with the cost of many uninsured medical expenses and recovery-based therapies. Help Hope Live is a nonprofit organization that has been assisting the transplant community for nearly 30 years and the catastrophically injured community for more than 10 years. Contributions are administered by Help Hope Live exclusively for uninsured medically-related expenses. Please consider a donation.
For credit card contributions, please click the yellow GIVE button.
Your support is critical to the overall success of Lance’s struggle. Please know that your contribution counts and will help Lance realize his dreams.
With sincere gratitude,
Linda Valdez
714-960-7372
lluvaldez@gmail.com
