A few months ago Tom started “not feeling well,” which lasted for a couple of weeks. As time passed, he developed a viral infection, got pink eye, and then Bell’s palsy struck the left side of his face. From there, he began to have neurological symptoms of numbness in his mouth while brushing his teeth, being unsteady on his feet, and a few other things. Things changed quickly after that with walking/mobility and fine motor skills declining, confusion, memory loss, sleeping a lot, and not feeling well overall. 

Tom went to the emergency room, was hospitalized and released the week of Thanksgiving. Upon discharge from Banner Medical Thunderbird Hospital, he was prescribed a steroid and anti-viral medication. Tom had a follow-up neurological appointment the following Wed, Dec 7 for an MRI test.  At that time Tom was prescribed Plavix, a blood thinner as a preventative measure in case he had a stroke. Tom’s condition continued to decline over the following days with memory loss, extreme fatigue, confusion, uneasy feelings, balance problems, and feeling horrible. On Mon, Dec 12 Tom became extremely fatigued and not responsive. Nancy called the paramedics and they brought Tom to Banner Boswell Medical Center where he was admitted.

His symptoms have been worsening and he sleeps most of the time. Multiple tests of all kinds (including 6 MRIs, 2 spinal taps, tests for auto-immune diseases, and more) and evaluations by doctors of many specialties have sadly not yet revealed a diagnosis or treatment plan. The doctors have suggested a range of possibilities from stroke to cancer. It’s been very difficult as the information and suggested evaluations/testing, diagnosis, and treatment plan change quickly and often contradict each other, while his condition worsens. We are working hard to advocate for Tom and are hoping to transfer him to a different hospital as soon as possible where he can get fresh eyes and a new approach to his evaluation and care.

Thank you all for keeping Tom and our family in your thoughts and prayers. We are so blessed to have a big network of family and friends to rely on for support. We are grateful for each and every one of you and love you all so much. 

We are finding it difficult to keep up with communications while we are in the midst of rapidly changing and often conflicting information. Our immediate family is at the hospital daily from the crack of dawn until just before we go to bed. We wish we could call, text, and talk to each of you, but we are not able to at this time as we care for and advocate for Tom. As much as we want to talk to all of you, we ask that you refrain from calling and texting immediate family members for now, and instead use this Caring Bridget site for updates and to leave messages and questions. We will read your messages to Tom to help uplift his spirits, and we will try to post updates to this page once per day at night. 

At this time, we don’t need any food or anything else. Matt and Justin are with Nancy and Tom, and Matt, Jason, Justin, and their families will be in Arizona over the holidays. 

We will likely need help in the days and weeks in the new year and we will update this space with those requests. Thank you all for your love and support! 

With love and gratitude,
The Hatcher family