Medical Travel For Vasculitis
Donation protected
My name is Chadwyck, I have been living in London, Ontario since 1985. From 2000 -2009 I have had the odd sickness that I constantly overlooked. Starting with a muggy hot summer around this time, July 2008 I had a teary left eye. I thought it was summer pollen and didn't worry about it. Months went by, it was now October 2008 and it got worse as the weather got cooler. I finally got it checked out by an eye doctor who referred me to a specialist. I thought it got worse because I took too long to get it checked. That was partially true. After getting a scan done, the same problem happened to the other eye. This was January 2009 when it was a frigid cold winter. I thought my problem was a hot muggy summer problem. Surgery was done to the left tear duct only to realize there were certain things happening that resembed a rare autoimmune blood vascular disease (vasculitis, inflammation of blood vessels) called, GPA, Granulomatosis with Polyangiitis. Formerly known as Wegener's Granulomatosis.
http://www.vasculitis.ca
I have already come to terms that this is a lifelong disease that needs to be monitored for life. However, the cause of it has been unknown since its discovery in 1936. The best part is that early diagnosis and treatment is crucial because that causes lives to extend longer by 90%. Prior to 1970, the only option with this disease was to die. It affects 1 in 20,000 to 1in 30,000 people. After reading up on what the disease is, it finally explained why I got sicker and sicker as the years went by. After being confirmed diagnosed in March 2010, I went on steroids and chemotherapy to put the disease in remission. I've been in remission since January 2011 and had frequent flareups of the disease since then. As a result of treatment I ended up having a total hip replacement from the steroids, brain scan and kidney biopsy within the last 5 years. I'm currently on a clinical trial for a new drug for active non-severe disease. Because I've been off work for over a year on disability, travelling frequently has become extremely difficult but I understand it is voluntary. What I am hoping with this GoFundMe account is to raise enough funds for travel mainly. It goes on for a year, possibly longer. I only need to travel to Toronto once every 3 months instead of every month like how it started off. The funds will be strictly for bus, $45-$80 round trip depending on how early it is booked. If the new drug is proven to work, it is $400-$500 per injection which is not covered by my disability coverage. So far, i'm either on placebo or drug so I have no idea what I'm injecting as of yet. Assuming the drug is what I'm getting and proven to work these would be weekly injections. For now, my goal is to raise enough ony for the travel expenses, $500 between now & December 2016.
What I'm hoping to accomplish is to have 1000 people donate 50 cents instead of a small amount of people donating large amounts of money. This would be greatly appreciated. I have everything else in place as my main treatment center is here in London where travel is not a big concern. If the goal is accomplished or surpassed and the extra funds are not used for travel, the rest will be donated to:
Vasculitis Foundation Canada
425 Hespeler Rd Suite 446
Cambridge, ON N1R 6J2
Phone: 1 (877) [phone redacted]
And
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
Vasculitis Clinic
Department of Rheumatology
60 Murray Street, Room 2-222
Toronto, Ontario M5T 3L9
(416) [phone redacted] Ext: 8549
for continued research and future medicines to treat all forms of vasculitis. Thank you to anybody in advance who can help.
http://www.vasculitis.ca
I have already come to terms that this is a lifelong disease that needs to be monitored for life. However, the cause of it has been unknown since its discovery in 1936. The best part is that early diagnosis and treatment is crucial because that causes lives to extend longer by 90%. Prior to 1970, the only option with this disease was to die. It affects 1 in 20,000 to 1in 30,000 people. After reading up on what the disease is, it finally explained why I got sicker and sicker as the years went by. After being confirmed diagnosed in March 2010, I went on steroids and chemotherapy to put the disease in remission. I've been in remission since January 2011 and had frequent flareups of the disease since then. As a result of treatment I ended up having a total hip replacement from the steroids, brain scan and kidney biopsy within the last 5 years. I'm currently on a clinical trial for a new drug for active non-severe disease. Because I've been off work for over a year on disability, travelling frequently has become extremely difficult but I understand it is voluntary. What I am hoping with this GoFundMe account is to raise enough funds for travel mainly. It goes on for a year, possibly longer. I only need to travel to Toronto once every 3 months instead of every month like how it started off. The funds will be strictly for bus, $45-$80 round trip depending on how early it is booked. If the new drug is proven to work, it is $400-$500 per injection which is not covered by my disability coverage. So far, i'm either on placebo or drug so I have no idea what I'm injecting as of yet. Assuming the drug is what I'm getting and proven to work these would be weekly injections. For now, my goal is to raise enough ony for the travel expenses, $500 between now & December 2016.
What I'm hoping to accomplish is to have 1000 people donate 50 cents instead of a small amount of people donating large amounts of money. This would be greatly appreciated. I have everything else in place as my main treatment center is here in London where travel is not a big concern. If the goal is accomplished or surpassed and the extra funds are not used for travel, the rest will be donated to:
Vasculitis Foundation Canada
425 Hespeler Rd Suite 446
Cambridge, ON N1R 6J2
Phone: 1 (877) [phone redacted]
And
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
Vasculitis Clinic
Department of Rheumatology
60 Murray Street, Room 2-222
Toronto, Ontario M5T 3L9
(416) [phone redacted] Ext: 8549
for continued research and future medicines to treat all forms of vasculitis. Thank you to anybody in advance who can help.
Organizer
Chadwyck Chung
Organizer
London, ON
