My name is Mike Blevins, and as much as I hate it, I am in a position that I have no choice but to ask for help, for Ethan's sake. Ethan is my son, and I'll tell you how things have came to this point. First of all, a little about Ethan. He is 31 and is autistic. He has also been diagnosed with OCD, Social Anxiety Disorder and has extreme anxiety. Although he has these issues, you will not find a kinder, gentler, bigger hearted person than him. In all the years that I've known him (since he was 8), he has never argued with, talked back to, or disrespected his mother or me. We had to pull him from school to homeschool him when he was 14. Because of his condition, he only had one friend that he had met online, who had badly betrayed, bullied and hurt him last year. Because of his anxiety, he is almost constantly worried about something. War, if he was a good person, if he would he wake up if he went to sleep; are just a few things that constantly went through his mind.

In the spring of 2023 Ethan developed an irritating cough. We finally got him to go to see his primary care doctor, who diagnosed him with bronchitis and gave treatment for it. Later, in May, as Ethan's cough and wellbeing were getting worse, Kathy (my wife) had taken him back to see his doctor and they got blood for tests. The next day the doctors office called Kathy, and told her that she should take Ethan to the emergency room as soon as possible. She called me and I left work and that is what we did.

Upon getting him to the ER, Ethan was very pale, weak and out of breath. They took him in fairly quickly and sent him for an x-ray. As we waited for a result, they set him up in a room. Before long, two doctors came back and explained that there was a mass in Ethan's chest causing all his problems. Cancer! Needless to say, we were all stunned at the diagnoses. Ethan has never smoked, drank alcohol, or did anything. How could he have cancer. It turned out to be Hodgkin's Lymphoma. They told us that it responds well to treatment and has a good survival rate. So Ethan agrees to Chemotherapy.

Before he starts chemo, he has to have a port-a-cath to put the chemo into his artery. So he gets it and is soon having treatments every two weeks. Half way through the six month regiment of infusions there is an issue,. The connection between the port and his artery had came loose. It takes weeks before they can replace it and get started back on the treatments. Six weeks to be exact. He finishes the rest of his infusions and gets a PET scan. Disheartening news, the cancer was not gone. The cancer had shrank from football size to about baseball size.

So he is referred to UVA in Charlottesville, VA. A four hour drive for us from home. The previous drive was a little over an hour to get his treatments. So the oncologist suggests immunotherapy and radiation to treat the lymphoma. So every two weeks we make the four hour drive to get  his treatments. He has 25 treatments of radiation near the end of his immunotherapy sessions. In December of 2024, his oncologist give us the good news that the cancer is in remission.

Eleven days later, Ethan is coughing very badly, and is short of breath. We call the rescue squad and they think that he has pneumonia. He ends up in Baptist hospital in Winston-Salem. There, he is diagnosed with pneumonia, a cold, and a possible MRSA infection in his lung. All related to his cancer treatments. While he is there he gets intubated and put on a ventalator on 3 different occasions. Once from a bad bleed from an ulcer and 2 times from massive panic attacks. After the last intubation they insisted on doing a tracheostomy. Once well enough, he is sent to a rehab facility.

The rehab facility was a nightmare. A few good nurses, the rest were just going through the motions. We went out of our way to make sure that they were aware of Ethan's autism and anxiety, that was for the most part, ignored. He has another flare up of pneumonia while there. The rehab facility was supposed to get Ethan off the vent, his trache removed and physical therapy to get him walking again. Even though his anxiety levels are pushed to the limit by a big part of the staff, Ethan does get off the ventilator but still requires oxygen. In April we are told that we have leave the rehab facility to go into a nursing facility. Which doesn't allow for overnight visitors, so that is out of the question.

During the time that Ethan was in the hospital and rehab facility, from Dec. 28th, 2024 until April 9th, 2025, either Kathy, me, or both of us were there with him. Mostly Kathy. She was with him for over 100 days straight with only a few breaks when I was able to be there. I was there as much as I could be using my FMLA time from work. Sometimes going back to the hospital and rehab from work, to sleep. When I used up all of my FMLA in mid January, I took my PTO as much as possible. I was let go from work for being tardy too many times. Which was actually a godsend, as I could stay with Ethan and give Kathy a break.

Kathy was able to come home and get everything set up for Ethan to come home. We believed that his anxiety level would be so much better if he were home. It turns out, it helped us all. We have got him set up with a medical bed and all the equipment that he needs along with home nursing so many hours a week. Unfortunately, only after being home for a few days Ethan had started coughing up blood. His pneumonia was back. He was in a local hospital, which had a really great staff, for a week. But now he is back home and gradually improving. His anxiety is a constant problem for him. He worries if the pneumonia is back, if the cancer is really gone, if he is getting worse. The list goes on. It's heart breaking. But there are good days.

My reason for this plea is that the meager savings that we have been blessed to accumulate over the years is dwindling quickly. Ethan's anxiety is a lot less when we are both home. To be honest, mine and Kathy's health is fair at best. Living in a hospital and sleeping in a chair for weeks  upon weeks is not exactly a vacation. We've both worked since we were 15. To us, not being self sufficient just doesn't feel right. But we just want to be able to take care of Ethan. And we won't be able to do that much longer. He deserves his chance at life as much as anyone. Once Ethan is able to walk again, off the oxygen and the trache comes out, we expect his anxiety levels to be a lot less.  

But as everyone well knows, the bills never stop coming, the food is not unending. We just need enough to keep the utilities paid, groceries on the table and Ethan's needs met. Thank you for taking the time to read this to know his story. If you are not in a position to help financially, prayers are greatly appreciated and welcomed. May God bless you.