The doctors deemed from his MRI that he had frontal lobe and mild axonal damage. Thankfully our dogged fixation on his recovery was rewarded and eventually he was stable enough to move to a sub-acute facility.

He is now in the Bay Area in his second sub-acute facility. After one month in a fully unresponsive coma, he is slowly regaining consciousness. (See “Updates” below for more on his current state. I typically lack brevity, so I tried my best to be concise here.)

Mom has been with him nearly every waking moment. Staying with friends, she very rarely visits their home which is 3 hours away. I come up from LA for a week or so at a time, every other week or two.

His healing is proving to be painfully slow, but the only possible outcome for us is his full recovery! So we are going to do all we can to help that happen.

~Financial Assistance~
It is clear the road ahead will be a long and arduous one. We are now at the mercy of Medicare and MediCal. We are so grateful for those programs, but they only pay for so much and not the highest quality care.

My parents are both long retired and live incredibly frugally, solely on their meager social security payments. They live alone with their two kitties, off the grid in a strawbale house we built in the mountains of Philo, CA, 3 hours north of the Bay Area. In their early 70s, I find their excellent health and way of life an incredible feat.

After some convincing, we are setting our pride aside and turning to the generosity of our friends and community. We have already been shown immeasurable kindness and support by people in our lives, and cannot thank everyone enough.

We were originally going to make a GoFundMe, but it can get very complicated as the money counts as extra assets and often results in beneficiaries losing their health insurance. We have chosen to use Help Hope Live because they pay all expenses directly, and ***all donations through them are tax-deductible***. Please also consider mailing them a check, that way there won’t be a credit card processing fee removed.

The money raised through our campaign here will pay for medical expenses for dad, such as:
~rehab facilities
~therapies
~caretakers
~wheelchairs
~any modifications our house might need if he needs a wheelchair for a while once he is home, etc.
It also allows for a small stipend for mom or I when we are with him and thus his caretaker, will cover some of mom’s gas costs, and will help with my travel when I come to be with them. This is obviously our focus for crowdfunding, as we want dad to get the quality care he needs.

The money won’t help with other expenses that are not directly for my dad, so if anyone additionally wants to help mom or I, send me an email at ocallen707@gmail.com. That money would be used to buy them a new computer (their iMac was destroyed in the crash), therapy, acupuncture, general living expenses for when I am with them and can’t work, etc. This, of course, is not our priority.

In researching brain trauma rehabilitation centers, I found they can be upwards of $2,400 a day! No wonder people often set a goal to raise $100,000+ when they do medical crowdfunding. That’s not even two months at some of the better facilities. Oy vey! We are setting our goal at $50,000. If we need to increase it, we shall.

We know well that times are financially challenging for everyone. Any little amount helps, truly, and as my extremely thrifty mother always reminds me: “it all adds up!”

~Daddy Details~
Anyone who knows my dad understands how invaluable he is. His articles on many worldly topics can be found in various publications, he writes beautiful poetry, is a talented orator, a scholar of all things esoteric and profound, and a skilled woodworker and artist. He has dedicated so much of his life to helping create a peaceful and just world.

As a husband and father he is so loving and sweet. He is funny, witty, passionate, hard working, and a lover of coffee and chocolate. He has endured and overcome so much hardship in his life, and my heart breaks thinking about how much pain he is in right now.

Thank you so much to anyone who takes the time to read this. Even if you can’t donate financially, all prayers and support are appreciated, and if you are so inclined, please share this with those in your life.

It is terrible seeing my mama unable to really talk with the love of her life and partner of 40 years, but I have Faith he will be with us fully again soon! There’s no alternative!

From the deepest trenches of my heart,
Olivia
#BlessingsForBillAllen

“And as to me, I know nothing else but miracles.” -Walt Whitman