Hi and thank you for taking the time to read this. My name is April Davis and my husband Nate Davis is getting ready to go have a life saving surgery performed on November 8, 2017. For those of you who know me and Nate you already know about his condition but for those who do not here is a little bit of what we have been dealing with. Nate has a condition called Ankylosing Spondylitis, it is a debilitating form of arthritis that attacks the spine. Nate has been battling this since the age of 19. Because of this disease he has an 80 degree curve in his spine that causes him to slump over. Eventually what will happen without this surgery is he will continue to hunch forward even more which causes tension on his spinal cord and he will either be paralyzed or it will put so much pressure on his ribs that they will end up puncturing his lungs causing him to suffocate. With the surgery he has only a 3% chance of paralysis. I know myself I like those odds much better than the 100% of the other things that would happen to him without surgery. We have been blessed with finding the dr who will take on this surgery since all of the surgeons we spoke to here in Springfield said they could do nothing for him. We will be having the surgery in St Louis, Mo at Barnes Jewish Hospital by an amazing surgeon by the name of Dr. Gupta. Nate will have to undergo 2 separate surgeries in which Dr. Gupta will do 2 spinal osteotomies that will help straighten Nate's upper spine. This will help him live a longer life as well as allow him to have a better quality of life with less pain. Because this surgery is so invasive I will be taking no less than 2 months off from work to help him through his rehabilitation. His surgeon has informed us that even at the end of those 2 months that Nate will only be able to be up long enough to microwave a microwave dinner. I couldn't be more excited for him because this is going to give him a new outlook on life without being in the constant debilitating pain he is in day in, day out. We understand if nobody can help us financially as we know all very well that times are hard. But even if you could just take a moment and pray for us through this journey and keep us in your thoughts that would be equally appreciated. This is going to be a long, hard road for all of us, but we will keep everyone who shares, gives or comments on this page up to date on Nate's progress before and after his surgery. So again, thank you all for everything, we love you.