We are an Orthodox Christian family of 5, with 3 small children ages 5, 3 and 1, currently living in Kansas City, Missouri. My husband, Lazarus is on disability and carves Holy Icons for the Church when he is able.

He has Marfan Syndrome, a genetic condition that affects all of his connective tissue. He has been dealing with health struggles related to Marfan's since his early 20's and had surgery on his Aorta in 2021, followed by open heart surgery 6 months later. He also had 2 eye surgeries shortly after that, and recovering from those 4 surgeries has been difficult.

We recently moved here to Kansas City about a year and a half ago, and Lazarus has had many health struggles since our move here. We have been unable to get health insurance coverage and he hasn't been seen by any doctors for this past year and a half. We couldn't afford to continue getting his medication.

On March 13th, Lazarus suffered an Aortic Dissection. He was flown from our local E.R. to a hospital in St. Louis to be seen by specialists for his condition. He was hospitalized there for 10 days while the surgical team monitored him and worked on making a plan. Thankfully, the team of doctors is world-renowned and we feel very grateful to be under their care.

With that said, the surgery that Lazarus needs to get is extremely high risk. The doctors are waiting to move forward with surgery to see if Lazarus can remain stable while gaining strength- he is currently severely malnourished and too weak to undergo the surgery, however it is not a surgery that can be postponed for very long.

We are grateful to God to have more time together as a family, while we care for Lazarus and try to feed him, and nourish him as much as possible to prepare for surgery.

He is unable to work, and we are facing a lot of unknowns, especially financial ones. We are needing to raise funds to help with our bills that will soon accumulate, as well as the travel expenses for trips back and forth to St. Louis for appointments. We do not have a large budget for food every month so being able to buy better/more food to nourish Lazarus in this time is paramount. With the high-risk surgery there will be a long and intensive recovery period, during which we would also need support. In the event that the surgery has some complications, there are potential expenses for medical equipment like a wheelchair and accessible features being added to our home. In the very worst case scenario, the money raised here could go towards funeral expenses and caring for the family.