Hello Gregg,
Many thanks for the Christmas wishes, and returned best wishes.
Sorry to hear of your issue, and I might be a lone voice in suggesting not to remove the EGR valve.
In knowledge that it has been parked up for a few months, I would be treating it to a few gallons of best fuel, keep adding some fuel additive, and use it an stretch it’s legs with reasonably high rev. runs, and see what happens.
Kind regards,
Gareth.