Hope for the Hawk Family

In December of 2014 my friends Ryan and Amanda Hawk moved into a newer neighborhood in a nice area of Windsor. They were so excited and over joyed but that joy and excitement quickly turned tragic as their 3 year old little girl Ashtyn fell very ill. She was hospitalized for the first time of many for reasons unknown. After many months of having a sick child the doctors at UCSF Benioff determined that Ashtyn had suffered from swelling of the spinal cord and encephalitis of the brain. Amanda and Ryan were devastated, they had a completely different child. Ashtyn spent the next few months exhausted and sleeping way more than usual. They took her to therapy to help her regain memory and speech abilities. During these evaluations they discovered that she had suffered neurological damage that had effected her left side and had led to her tripping often and scraping her left toe until it bled.

They continued to seek answers as no one could explain exactly what had happened or why she was having these symptoms. A few months later their 2 year old boy Brylie started to complain of severe headaches in the back of his head. They repeatedly took him to their local pediatricians office, and within weeks their pediatrician expressed concerns. Explaining that it wasn't normal to be having these headaches in the back of the head. The doctor ordered a pediatric MRI. After waking from the MRI Brylie had difficulty with speech and motor function. Doctors scrambled to figure out why Brylie had responded to the anesthesia in this manner. They could not explain what had taken place or why he had this abnormal response. Amanda and Ryan took Brylie to UCSF for a consult, again no one could figure out what was causing his symptoms.

Amanda spent countless hours calling doctors across the country begging for answers, anything that could help her figure out why her kids were sick. By the grace of God Brylie's symptoms subsided. At this point they were desperate, they had no idea what was causing their kids to be sick, but they knew something wasn't right. They went to Stanford Children's for a second opinion but they also could not figure out WHAT had taken place to cause their children to become sick.

A few weeks later Merridith their oldest daughter started acting confused and inappropriate. She had trouble articulating speech and recalling memories. Their oldest son Bryson also started getting headaches and nose bleeds. It was at this point in a sheer panic Amanda packed up the kids, and a few small bags while Ryan was at work and checked into a hotel. She knew with every fiber of her being that something was wrong. Amanda and Ryan tried everything they could think of to help their children.

Merridith continued to decline in congnative fuction. Frustrated and having no answers she took Merridith to CPMC where the family was told that she had lead poisoning. All the children were tested and they waited anxiously for the results. When the results were finally in, they were surprised. The levels did not reflect the neurologic severity the children were showing...something else was wrong, they just didn't know what. They immediately did testing within the home. The results of the findings were shocking. For over a year they had been living in a severely contaminated house. The home tested positive for large amounts of bacteria, mold and meth. Their children had been poisoned in the very home they thought was there to keep them safe. For anyone who knows Amanda and the Hawk family you know the strain this has put on them. She disengaged from friends and family due to exhaustion from spending hours on the phone and internet searching tirelessly for answers. Now they had some answers but no home.

Four weeks ago a federal agency told Ryan and Amanda that it was not safe to keep anything from their home. Everything that they owned had to be thrown away. They have watched their lives slowly unravel. Their children have all suffered from ongoing illness and now they have lost everything. They lost everything, photos, toys, clothes all their treasures from their entire lives, all gone.

They had been staying with family but unfortunately the family they were staying with lives in a 55+ community and they had to leave. The family of six is now homeless and owns nothing and has medical bills coming every day that they can't pay. In such a short time it is unimaginable to me how they had a home, healthy children and a life and now- homeless and injured and feeling hopeless.

I am asking please...even if it's $1 please help this family regain their strength build their lives again. Thank you.