My Story

Michael Buettner, at the age of 43, was in the prime of his life. He had finally found his soul mate in Janet, his girlfriend, and they were engaged to be married. He was happy and successful in his career as a financial planner, involved in his church, kind, funny, generous, and just a pleasure to be around. He was looking forward to a bright future. Tragically, in August, 2009, at the age of 43, Michael suffered oxygen deprivation during emergency open-heart surgery, leaving him with a traumatic brain injury. He now needs 24/7 care since his walking speech, vision, and short-term memory have all been majorly affected. He no longer can perform his job as a financial planner. Although his intellect is completely intact, he is unable to hold any job due to his speech, vision and short-term memory issues.

Suffering anoxia (oxygen deprivation) during surgery caused damage to several areas of the brain. One of these areas is the frontal lobe, which regulates our decision making, control of purposeful behaviors, and emotions. Although Michael has made progress in regards to stabilizing his emotions, he continues to cry easily, become overly excited and have anger outbursts. Due to the injury on this part of the brain, Michael also lacks impulse control and good judgment. While all of these things hinder Michael’s progress in reaching both his short and long term goals, the lack of impulse control and good judgment pose a much greater threat, at present, to Michael’s well-being in that Michael will attempt to do things he is unable to do without assistance such as walking, bending or reaching for things, and lifting heavy objects.

BALANCE

Michael’s balance has been severely compromised. He is unable to shift his weight properly, know where to place his feet, or attain a gait. After many months, Mike is now strong enough to use exercise equipment (i.e. recumbent bike, leg press, arm press), and is deemed physically in good health. However, his inability to use his muscles properly prevents him from walking without assistance. This is the most dangerous aspect of Mike’s recovery. The high fall risk factor occurs every time Michael stands up. He needs to have someone in a room with him at all times prepared for him to jump up and lose his balance. The use of walking aides (i.e. standard walker, u-step walker, cane) are currently not viable options due to Mike’s lack of coordination and gross motor skills. Our goal is to be able to purchase a gait-harness walking system which is not covered by insurance. This device has been proven to be one of the most effective technologies to assist individuals to walk again.

Another area of the brain which was affected was the temporal lobe. This is the part of the brain which regulates memory. Although Michael can remember his childhood and much of his adult life, he cannot remember many things that he did in the year or two prior to his surgery and continues to have memory issues since the surgery occurred.

MEMORY

The greatest adverse effect was to Michael’s short-term memory. Even in a span of just 10-15 minutes, Michael is, oftentimes, unable to retrieve from memory such things as what he ate, the activity he was working on, or who came to visit him.

Although neuro-ophthalmologists have determined there is no damage to Mike’s eyes, the occipital lobe of the brain was injured causing great difficulty tracking and shifting his gaze without losing focus. He also relies on his peripheral vision in order to see things more clearly. Challenging in all of this is that Michael has difficulty keeping his eyes open for the majority of the day. Vision therapy provides a forum for Michael to receive the intense stimulation that is needed for his eyes to stay open and work more effectively together, thereby improving his overall vision.

In addition, Michael’s speech is profoundly impaired making it very difficult for people to understand him. There are many factors which contribute to his impairment, some of which are not placing his tongue properly to form letters, keeping his jaw clenched when attempting to talk, and not opening the back of the throat up enough to allow space for air to flow and, in turn, create the proper sounds.

CAREGIVER

Michael continues to make improvements and maintains a positive attitude about his recovery; however, the financial hardship over the past two years has taken its toll. Michael’s girlfriend, Janet, moved in with him in November ’09 when Michael got out of the hospital to be Michael’s primary caregiver. Janet’s sister, Lynne also moved in with Michael when he returned home from the hospital to help with Michael’s care. Lynne’s time to provide direct care to Michael is limited, however, due to the fact that she works 80 hours a week to cover her own expenses and to assist with household expenses as well as pay for Michael’s health insurance, which is at a rate of almost $900.00 per month due to his pre-existing heart condition. Presently, Michael’s only means of income is his social security check, as he is not eligible to receive any other assistance from state funded programs. Unfortunately, Michael only receives a social security check, leaving the majority of financial responsibilities, including household expenses and costly out of pocket medical and therapy bills to his caregivers, Janet and Lynne. In addition to the financial hardships are the demands put on the caregivers; as it can be quite physically and emotionally draining to work with Michael. While Janet and Lynne have been blessed with the support of friends and church members, they do not have the financial means to hire a caregiver.

OPTIMISM

Although Michael remains optimistic in regards to his recovery as well as many doctors who have expressed the same optimism; mainly because of Michael’s age, he continues to need therapy, medication, and caregivers in order to achieve his goals.

DONATIONS

Janet and Lynne, physically and emotionally exhausted by the responsibility of caring for Michael around the clock while constantly dealing with the financial burden which has become increasingly overwhelming, are finally reaching out for some relief. Please consider giving what you can to help Michael and his family on this hard journey to recovery. No amount is too small, anything you can give will be greatly appreciated. Michael will receive 100% of all donations.