Todd Ferguson

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Family Background:  Todd and Kary met in college and in their senior year, after being "just friends" for quite some time, realized that there was much more to their relationship.  After graduation, Todd got busy finding a job so he could buy the perfect ring and propose...which he did!  They were married in April of 1995 and Todd continued to spoil Kary, always looking for ways to make her feel special.  When it appeared that building a family was going to take longer than anticipated, Todd supported Kary's dreams of adopting and two babies from China joined them, Hannah in 1999 and Audrey in 2002.  Hearts were full and they moved on as a family of four.  Make that five!  In 2004, Kary gave birth to a bonus, Caleb, who brought great joy to their hearts.  For the next few years, the family stayed busy home schooling, being involved at church and taking mission trips to Thailand.  Having visited orphanages where older children longed to be adopted, the family was burdened to adopt an older child, so Joey joined the family in 2012 at age 5 1/2.  So, with two girls and two boys, the family was complete and Todd was ever faithful in caring for and providing their needs.


Medical Story:  In 2014, several events occurred that caused Kary to question Todd's diagnosis of depression and in early 2015 he was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease (PD) and was referred to a movement disorder specialist.   While waiting for the appointment, Kary researched and spoke with other PD patients.  Todd seemed to have more cognitive problems than most, so Kary was anxious for the long-awaited appointment.  It only took a few minutes with the specialist to know that he did not believe PD was the correct diagnosis. They were introduced to the term Corticobasal Degeneration (CBD) in March of 2016 and by June they had a new diagnosis. CBD is a rare,  progressive neurological disorder characterized by nerve cell loss and atrophy (shrinkage) of multiple areas of the brain including the cerebral cortex and basal ganglia.  There is no treatment or cure.  



Family Status:  Todd is on long-term disability and keeps busy reading (something he never had time for before) and catching up on TV shows in between his many naps.  Hannah takes online college classes so she is able to be home with him during the day.  Kary will be completing her internship in autism in Spring 2017 then hoping to get a special education teaching position to support the family.  (If you're interested in helping the family out financially during this time of transition, you can click on the "Ways To Help" button for more info).  The rest of the kids are in public school where they've been for the last few years while Kary worked in special education and went back to school.   Naturally, we are devastated by this diagnosis and ache at the long goodbye we are facing.  There are no support groups in our area for children whose parents are facing a terminal disease so it can be difficult to feel understood at times.  Our biggest need is for prayer.  We feel like we're in a free-fall right now, but we know we have a mighty God who will not fail us.  Thank you to each and every one who has reached out and held us up when our strength has failed.  We love you all!!!


IMPORTANT NOTE:  Due to his special needs, Joey cannot understand the full implications of the CBD so we ask you to not discuss it with him.  Thx!


14 We know that God, who raised
the Lord Jesus will also raise us with Jesus and present us to himself
together with you. 15 All of this is for your benefit. And as God’s
grace reaches more and more people, there will be great thanksgiving, and God
will receive more and more glory. 16 That
is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying, our spirits
are being renewed every day. 17 For our present troubles are
small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly
outweighs them and will last forever! 18 So we don’t look at the
troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen.
For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will
last forever. (2 Corinthians 4)