By Coty Dolores Miranda
Contributor
For the previous 12 years, Andrew and Kellie Burkhart have paid all medical bills for his or her son, Andrew, Jr., as he battles cerebral palsy.
The couple estimate month-to-month bills run greater than $1,000, and out-of-state therapies – suspended for now as a consequence of budgetary constraints – simply hit $20,000 yearly.
Andrew Sr. (Drew) teaches math at Hamilton High School and part-time every day at Bogle Junior High School; he previously taught at Kyrene Akimel A-al in Ahwatukee.
All prices for therapies have been out-of-pocket since Andrew, who will quickly flip 16, was identified with cerebral palsy a month earlier than his 4th birthday.
The Burkharts had grown annoyed with conventional medical care after repeated diagnoses introduced few solutions. And so that they opted to attempt homeopathic drugs.
It meant they have been on their very own as solely 11% of main healthcare insurers cowl homeopathy therapies; most homeopathic physicians don’t settle for insurance.
Along with Drew Burkhart’s wage, the couple’s potential to pay for Andrew Jr.’s care will depend on tax-deductible donations by two space nonprofits.
It was on their first go to that the homeopathic physician identified cerebral palsy.
The prognosis shocked the couple, particularly Kellie Burkhart who had labored as a former psychological well being therapist and social employee.
After pondering the out-of-pocket price, they determined to decide to Homeopathic therapies. Within months, they noticed seen progress of their son’s potential to stroll and communicate.
They knew the trail can be pricey however felt it was the one, and greatest, various. Drew Burkhart stated.
“The homeopathic path was, in reality, the only path,” he stated. “So many well-meaning professionals crushing my hopes with well-intended phrases: ‘Your son will never talk; Your son’s calf muscle tissues will want Botox; he won’t ever’ … fill within the clean. I’m positive the thought was to get me to face information and achieve perspective a few new family path. So I selected one, I selected a brand new family path.
“In reality my wife deserves the credit for our direction,” Burkhart continued. “We had a pal with stage 4 most cancers that was already years previous his quoted life expectancy and going sturdy. His physician grew to become our physician and a world of hope opened – a really costly world of hope.
“So we jumped in head first. To tell the truth, I do not know which of the natural remedies helped but I did know something was working.”
Many instances, the Burkharts have been uncertain how every little thing may very well be paid.
Time after time, as documented since December, 2010 in Kellie’s weblog, PrayforAndrew.Wordpress.com, she recounts how medical wants have been typically “miraculously” lined as a result of donations of mates, strangers and even native companies.
“Andrew has taught us to live far beyond our comfort zone,” she stated. “It is a financially suffocating path, but our child has improved. Yes, our bills are extensive and expensive, yet when people ask how we do it, I answer ‘by the grace of God.’”
“When we get to the end of our rope, we just call out to God. I used to be scared, but the miracles have happened time and time again,” she stated.
“Financially it’s still a mountain but we are rich in so many ways,” stated her husband. “We have faith that our path is the right one.”
Kellie has been fundraising to assist pay for her son’s therapeutic. She began by contacting companies and was not deterred when solely two out of 200 responded.
Now she encourages companies to donate to assist Andrew utilizing the charities who present tax-deductible avenues.
Several years in the past they have been made conscious of the Cerebral Palsy Hope Foundation, which accepts donations particularly for Andrew’s medical wants, making the donations tax deductible.
Andrew grew to become one of many latest ‘Armer Kids’ on the Ahwatukee-based nonprofit The Armer Foundation. His story could be discovered, together with the opposite youngsters the inspiration helps help, at ArmerFoundation.org.
Among the extra pricey of Andrew’s procedures previously years have been a collection of stem cell and hyperbaric oxygen therapies that the dad and mom say allowed their son to expertise “significant improvements” inside days.
“I believe the most powerful man-made remedy was the adult stem cells as Andrew’s life changed dramatically after the first four stem cell treatments,” stated Drew Burkhart.
Kellie Burkhart recalled a 2012 ‘60 Minutes’ program that outed online-sales of ‘bogus’ stem cell therapies. The youngster who was to be handled with 4 procedures at $5,000 a bit, had cerebral palsy.
She took to her weblog to inform her readers that whereas she lauded 60 Minutes for exposing the charlatans, her youngster had benefited from the umbilical twine stem cell therapies he’d acquired. “He has maintained all areas of progress with no negative side effects. I can only tell others with great certainty that it did help our child.”
“Andrew is the sweetest soul. Even before he could speak, he was always making friends,” she stated. “He loves people.”
For the Burkhart family, religion is a key to preserving on.
“My friend stopped me in the parking lot at work about a month into our new journey,” Drew Burkhart shared in an e-mail.
“I bet you pray for healing,” the pal wrote.
“I told him, ‘Every night.’”
The pal replied, “You do not want that. You want the path that builds faith. You want the struggle. You want the blessing that can only be appreciated at the end of years of growth and perspective.”
Drew stated, “I’ve thought of that conversation often. In truth, I may not be completely on board with the years of struggle; it’s hard. I am getting there. I do think God placed us on a road we were meant to walk. We need to be faithful to our purpose. My life is much richer because of this life and the blessing that is my son.”
To study extra about Andrew and his family’s journey see the weblog, PrayforAndrew.wordpress.com and Facebook beneath AndrewsAngels123.
To assist: ArmerFoundation.org.
