Michael Thompson's Medical Fundraising Effort

Greetings from Michael Thompson in Chiang Mai, Thailand

March 10, 2024 update

Michael's sister, Catherine, here with an update.

It's become clear that Mike needs to get into a facility where a certain amount of professional care is readily available. We have a found a great place in Chiang Mai called The McKean Senior Center - https://mckean.or.th 

This means that Mike's Weeboon fundarising has shifted to something long term. Not sure how long exactly but it could be many months or even years. Not too much different than the main fundraising message. He will need a greater amount support until July when his OAS (gov't pension) kicks in and then will still need financial help, but a litle less so.

This fundraising effort will be ongoing with no fixed end date.
Of course, any donation of any amount will be massively appreciated and if you can find it in your heart and, of course, ability to make a regular monthly donation, large or small, that would be very helpful indeed.

I'll come back with an update on this in a month or so when we have a better idea of how this might all work out to get Mike over to McKean.

Also, though for most it seems to have been fine, a couple people over in Canada have had trouble using their credit card to make a donation to Mike's Weeboon page. Another option would be to donate directly via an international transfer service such as Wise  - https://wise.com . If you'd like to use Wise, please email me - catherine.fiain@gmail.com - and I can send you Mike's Bangkok Bank particulars.

Thanks a million and all the best!

Cath

Thanks so much for visiting my medical fundraising effort.

My goal in this fundraising is to raise ฿293,000 Thai Baht/~$8,140 USD by the end of July 2024. 
With WeeBoon I am allowed to access raised funds at any time I need them, so I do not need to wait until a particular end date. This will be particularly helpful in my situation.
You will find the financial breakdown at the end of this section. 

Here is a link to a little youtube video I made in early January - https://youtu.be/gMtAsSy8hiw?si=41AZiTrQPxRskfd-

Funds raised will be used to pay for debts incurred to date as well as medical and living expenses that arise until the end of July 2024 when I will begin to receive my OAS retirement funds from the Canadian government and will then be able to financially carry myself on my own steam.

At present I find myself able to stand on wobbly legs and cautiously walk about my apartment for a few steps. I have a stool on wheels that I use a lot and this allows me to easily scoot around. I can now get the the fridge, make some toast, microwave a meal etc. I have a wheelchair and am able to get into it on my own and get myself down to the building entrance. There are no ramps at my place but I am now able to get out of the wheelchair, ease it down the two steps to the pavement and then get back in the wheelchair and off I go. I have been able to do this for the last couple of weeks. My main point here is to say that things are improving very slowly for me, but they are, indeed, steadily improving. Frustrating, of course, but also encouraging at the same time. This is a long journey, it is clear, but a journey where I know that I can get to a reasonable physical state in time. I don’t think marathons are in my future, but being able to get around on my own steam to one degree or another is indeed in the future. I was hoping too be back teaching but I realised that wasn’t going to be possible so I’ve started this campaign. 

This wasn’t the case when I first arrived in Chiang Mai back in July 2023. I barely got myself there, I managed to drive my car up (not sure how exactly, but I did) I fell twice on the way up, and then after booking myself into my hotel room things began to rapidly cascade downwards and within a a couple of days I had completely collapsed. 

There appears to be a complex collection of medical issues at work here. A major aspect is a spinal compression fracture that occurred, most likely, during one of my falls. One of these falls was on my motorbike in Roi Et a couple of months before I came to Chiang Mai, when I passed out whilst riding. Another issue is what appears to be a blood clot in the brain. I am told that the doctors are not too immediately concerned with this, though I can imagine that it has played a big part somewhere in this whole scenario. To add to all this are immunity issues at hand as well as some earlier bleeding in the brain that the Chiang Mai hospital found when I was ensconced there. Also, possibly from one of my falls, When I said, in the previous paragraph, that things cascaded downwards, I wasn’t kidding! I am trying to keep this section concise but if you’d like to know more of what I’ve been dealing with, please get in touch with a personal message and I can let you know more of what these travails have been.

In Chiang Mai I ended up in a hospital. Twice actually. I went in once, checked myself out after 2 days, collapsed again in my hotel room and then I was back in the hospital and was on my back, barely able to move for a couple of months. The story is long and convoluted and many times I really didn’t know if I would be able to pull out of it at all. I did though. Slowly. In September, I was admitted to a special physio section of the hospital. This was good and it was helpful with great staff but in retrospect I wasn’t really quite ready to be there; wasn’t quite mobile enough to make full use of my time. I’ve added a couple of photos of my time at physio. One in early September showing me trying to stand with two assistants and the other, a few weeks later, able to sit up with assistance. Slow progress indeed, but I’m sure one can see, in the photos, the tiny improvement.

Though this has been the most trying and difficult time of my life, there have also been many gifts. One… for quite a while I was still on the medical insurance plan from the school that I was working at in Roi Et. Most (though not all, hence the past debt owed as you’ll see below) of my hospital stays were covered as well as a fair bit of my stay at the physio department. I no longer have access to this insurance though and so it is all on my own dime (and the help of others!) at this point. Luckily, medical costs here in Thailand are very reasonable especially when compared to the west. Another silver lining, I suppose.

When I left the physio facility my sister Suzanne rented a condo for me across the hall from her. This is where I have been since then. Sue took on the huge task of the daily caring for me. Words really can’t say enough about that. Lifelong gratefulness. Yes… and much more. 

As I write this, Sue is still helping a lot, but I am happy to say that I am steadily able to do things more and more on my own and lessen the load for her.

I’ll add some photos and a video to this page and please know that any donation sent, large or small, will be so deeply appreciated and carefully made use of. 

And I thank you in advance!

Here is a rundown of expenses, both past spent and to come:

฿100,000/$2,800 - Excess medical expenses debt to date. This debt is owed to my sister Suzanne and includes medical fees that she has paid among other expenses

฿51,000/$1450 - Condo rent for the coming 6 months @ ฿8,500/mth

฿60,000/$1,700 - Food and transportation for the coming 6 months @ ฿10,000/mth

฿30,000/$850 - Unanticipated expenses that will, no doubt, arise over the coming 6 months

฿20,000/$570 - Followup doctor visits and medical expenses over the 6 months 

฿10,000/$285 - To pay for a trip back to Roi Et later this year when I am more mobile to collect items I still have there

฿13,550/$390 + ฿8535/$240 - 5% fundraising platform fees + 3% credit card fees

As you might imagine, these amounts presented will just allow me to get through the next 6 months well enough if I keep everything nice and financially tight and live frugally. Any funds raised in excess of my $8,340 goal will be used carefully and well, and be massively appreciated. At some point soon I would like to get some private physio therapy and this is one expense that excess funds raised could go to.

Please note that my sister Catherine has composed this fundraising description using notes and ideas that I sent to her. Thanks Cath!