Doug and Judy Schill don't know where they stand financially in the wake of a deluge of medical bills resulting from Doug's aneurysm, dissection and stroke.

They do know this: They have a $50,000 home-equity loan on their comfortable Malvern Road home near Hope Valley Road. One of their four children, Mark, has assumed a $60,000 second mortgage on his Milwaukee home to pay off the first round of expenses. Friends have contributed $70,000.

The Schills are $21,000 in the hole today. During the next two years that could balloon to $71,000 or more, according to rough estimates by Mark.

Doug is covered by Medicare and has a Thrivent supplemental policy. "This is all so new," Judy says of Medicare's maze of regulations.

Here is what happened to Doug Schill and how his family has coped financially.

For a six-week stay in the hospital in Seoul, Doug's medical bills totaled more than $100,000. A $50,000 traveler's policy and $50,000 from a Thrivent supplemental policy knocked $100,000 off the bill. The hospital wrote off the remainder.

An air ambulance from Seoul to Milwaukee, where Mark and his sister Lindy live, cost about $125,000. A doctor, nurse and respiratory therapist were on board. That medical bill was paid by $70,000 raised when the Schill children solicited friends and former students for help in mid-December. Mark paid the rest of the bill with a $60,000 second mortgage on his home.

Undetermined to date is the total medical bill for almost three months of care in Milwaukee and about a month in Durham Regional Hospital. How much Medicare and Doug's insurance will pay on those bills is unclear.

The Schills have spent $21,000 raised through their $50,000 home equity loan. Mark said his research indicates that the next two years of care for a spinal injury victim can total $150,000 to $200,000. He estimates that his father's policies will pick up all but $50,000 of the bill.

"We don't have any idea what kind of medical bill will hit us in the future," Judy says.

Five initiatives are in place to help the Schills:

* The Doug Schill Medical Benefit Fund, c/o Johnson Bank of Milwaukee, PO Box 11092, Shorewood, WI 53211.

* St. Paul's Lutheran Schill Medevac Fund, 1200 W. Cornwallis Road, Durham, NC 27705.

* Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, Jordan High School, 6808 Garrett Road, Durham, NC 27707

* The Schills' neighborhood has been leafleted by concerned neighbors seeking contributions.

* On Sunday from 7 to 9 p.m. a benefit will be held at Duke School's middle school gymnasium, 3716 Erwin Road. Tickets: 493-2642