Anthony's Transplant Recovery Fund
Donation protected
[TL;DR] My friend and his wife are struggling financially after an extended period of severe health issues, and they need some help to get them through a difficult time.
For those of you who do wish to know their story, keep reading:
I've started this campaign on behalf of my mate Anthony and his wife to try and ease the financial burden and stress kidney failure has placed on him and his wife. He has struggled for years now after numerous factors in his life tried to derail him, but things have started to look up since a little over two weeks ago he received a donor kidney. This brings new challenges though, with many new appointments and medications which have not just strained their financial position but broken it.
To know his story, we have to go back before the kidney failure. Back to when a young man fell in love, and dreamed of starting his own business. Anthony met his now wife of 10 years Natalie 16 years ago. He adored her, showered her with gifts, and telling her after just a month he knew one day they would marry.
Anthony dreamed of being a business owner. Soon after they met, he quit his job and enrolled in a business course. He had taken part in council meetings focused on youth initiatives and knew that the plans local government was debating would never be in place for the youth today so, understanding they needed somewhere they could hang out and not be asked to move on, he began to put together a business plan for an Internet cafe.
Even though he knew having areas for the kids to hang out meant some older customers would stop coming, he stuck to his guns saw his plan through. Sure, he needed to make a profit, but it was for the kids. Many weeks he couldn't pay himself, and his mother also worked for free to help out.
This is where Anthony's life should have been amazing. He proposed to Natalie, took over a second Internet cafe that was about to close, and things were looking up. Things then went south one after another. The first hit, his Internet cafe was robbed and through a loophole the insurance company refused to pay. The new cafe that badly needed upgrades now needed to supply computers to the first to keep the doors open. The money that should have upgraded this new cafe to the quality of the first quickly disappeared and he had to bring in new computers that were not the quality of those stolen and the business never recovered. He did everything he could to keep both running until the lease on the second building ended, at which time he closed the second cafe, choosing to focus on the flagship.
In 2007, after working a second job for 2 and a half years to keep everything going and save, Anthony and Natalie were married. Once again even though there were financial pressures Ant thought things would all work out. They got a dog Lucy and soon after rescued another, TJ. Not long after his car was written off in an accident that wasn't his fault but the driver wasn't insured to drive it. Anthony was then lent a car to drive, but the brakes failed causing a 3 car accident he was financially liable for. Just 18 months Lucy lived, they threw every dollar at her treatment even though they couldn't afford it. A rare blood disease took their dogs life.
Shortly after his mother passed suddenly and totally unexpected. His friends rallied around him and kept the business open while he and his sister sorted the funeral while his father had surgery to receive one of his mothers kidneys. She saved 7 lives that day. He decided he could no longer fight to keep the shop open and sold. This may have saved his life.
Shortly after selling the business, he went for a checkup. Something he hadn't done in a while, because running a business and working a second job took all his time. His blood pressure was through the roof and doctors told him he could have had a heart attack or stroke any day. His heart was enlarged and he was placed on drugs to help bring the blood pressure under control and reverse the damage. The rapid decrease shocked his body and he struggled with energy levels for 18 months not able to work.
Returning to work in May 2010, he finally felt normal again. There was still debt left from the business and they decided to move in with his sister, her husband, and their father. The idea was to live together for a few years, and they're still there today so that they have less financial burden than if they lived alone.
Things felt like maybe everything would finally be ok but a year later still not able to fall pregnant they had to see specialists and begin IVF. They had a lot of family support but it meant money that they wanted to be saving all went on medical bills that as yet haven't produced a child. All the stress piled up, and I don't know how they kept moving forward.
I think it was 2013 when a manager at his job wrapped Anthony in a bear hug messing around, and when he wouldn't let him go Anthony threw him off tearing two discs. This was meant to be a 2 month injury, but damage to nerves in his back has kept him in pain since and caused him to be hypersensitive to pain. He attempted to return to work many times even after them pushing him to do too much landed him in hospital unable to lift his legs off the bed. After returning from his hospital stay, they had him jammed in the corner of the garage where he sat alone and most days with nothing to do.
Depression set in, and anxiety too. He didn't know when if ever he would be able to support his wife again, or when his back would go out. He has always been very open about this. He lost a friend to suicide in 2011 and blames the negativity around mental illness stopping people from seeking help and talking about how they are feeling.
He tried his best to get small jobs working at home, and offered to subcontract work from home for his former employer but that was rejected. Then TJ got very sick, again without care for themselves or the debt they'd incur they fought to the end to keep their little man alive. He passed away in 2015, his heart just couldn't cope. This would be only the beginning of a terrible year.
2015 would also see the passing of Anthony's Nonna and Nonno within 5 months, and then the news his kidneys wouldn't last much longer. Until now the belief was that the disease passed down wouldn't progress to end stage renal failure till his 50's but at just 32 he was told to prepare himself for surgeries and life on dialysis. Maybe it was the stress over the years that brought it forward, no one really knows.
2016 was dialysis 3 days a week, 45 minute drives to drop him off and pick him up from the royal Melbourne hospital. It was more financial and mental stress they didn't need, and were finally moved to a closer location 4 months later. Ant has bad eyesight on top of everything else, and combined with the exhaustion from the treatment itself, is unable to drive, so Natalie and his father are his taxi drivers.
Whether it's the treatments, or the body not coping with the blood not being as clean as it should be, Ant struggles with even hanging washing or a quick trip to the shops. This certainly isn't helping his depression and anxiety. Their families have done all they can to ease their stress, now I hope this can help.
Ant loves the footy, and somehow Nat got him to every game the Melbourne football club played in Melbourne 2016. They'd get in early and sometimes still not make it into the ground by the start of the gameHe has to sit down outside the ground at the end, and takes a while to get to the car, but he loves his Demons. Financial strains and declining health would restrict him to only attend 6 games in 2017.
2017 until the transplant has been no better, if anything everything piled up is making things worse and how he and Nat stay upbeat around us is beyond me. This is as much for Nat as it is for Ant, she's a saint and I don't know how she has gone through so much with him and is still standing. I don't know where he would be without her.
Down to 1 car doesn't help and it's old and falling apart. The thermostat went recently, then an $1800 bill for repairs and a service ate Nat's tax return they were hoping could help catch up on other bills. It's on its last legs, and I have no idea how they'll be able to replace it.
Please help ease their stress and take financial issues off the table for at least a little while. Anything at all you can contribute will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
For those of you who do wish to know their story, keep reading:
I've started this campaign on behalf of my mate Anthony and his wife to try and ease the financial burden and stress kidney failure has placed on him and his wife. He has struggled for years now after numerous factors in his life tried to derail him, but things have started to look up since a little over two weeks ago he received a donor kidney. This brings new challenges though, with many new appointments and medications which have not just strained their financial position but broken it.
To know his story, we have to go back before the kidney failure. Back to when a young man fell in love, and dreamed of starting his own business. Anthony met his now wife of 10 years Natalie 16 years ago. He adored her, showered her with gifts, and telling her after just a month he knew one day they would marry.
Anthony dreamed of being a business owner. Soon after they met, he quit his job and enrolled in a business course. He had taken part in council meetings focused on youth initiatives and knew that the plans local government was debating would never be in place for the youth today so, understanding they needed somewhere they could hang out and not be asked to move on, he began to put together a business plan for an Internet cafe.
Even though he knew having areas for the kids to hang out meant some older customers would stop coming, he stuck to his guns saw his plan through. Sure, he needed to make a profit, but it was for the kids. Many weeks he couldn't pay himself, and his mother also worked for free to help out.
This is where Anthony's life should have been amazing. He proposed to Natalie, took over a second Internet cafe that was about to close, and things were looking up. Things then went south one after another. The first hit, his Internet cafe was robbed and through a loophole the insurance company refused to pay. The new cafe that badly needed upgrades now needed to supply computers to the first to keep the doors open. The money that should have upgraded this new cafe to the quality of the first quickly disappeared and he had to bring in new computers that were not the quality of those stolen and the business never recovered. He did everything he could to keep both running until the lease on the second building ended, at which time he closed the second cafe, choosing to focus on the flagship.
In 2007, after working a second job for 2 and a half years to keep everything going and save, Anthony and Natalie were married. Once again even though there were financial pressures Ant thought things would all work out. They got a dog Lucy and soon after rescued another, TJ. Not long after his car was written off in an accident that wasn't his fault but the driver wasn't insured to drive it. Anthony was then lent a car to drive, but the brakes failed causing a 3 car accident he was financially liable for. Just 18 months Lucy lived, they threw every dollar at her treatment even though they couldn't afford it. A rare blood disease took their dogs life.
Shortly after his mother passed suddenly and totally unexpected. His friends rallied around him and kept the business open while he and his sister sorted the funeral while his father had surgery to receive one of his mothers kidneys. She saved 7 lives that day. He decided he could no longer fight to keep the shop open and sold. This may have saved his life.
Shortly after selling the business, he went for a checkup. Something he hadn't done in a while, because running a business and working a second job took all his time. His blood pressure was through the roof and doctors told him he could have had a heart attack or stroke any day. His heart was enlarged and he was placed on drugs to help bring the blood pressure under control and reverse the damage. The rapid decrease shocked his body and he struggled with energy levels for 18 months not able to work.
Returning to work in May 2010, he finally felt normal again. There was still debt left from the business and they decided to move in with his sister, her husband, and their father. The idea was to live together for a few years, and they're still there today so that they have less financial burden than if they lived alone.
Things felt like maybe everything would finally be ok but a year later still not able to fall pregnant they had to see specialists and begin IVF. They had a lot of family support but it meant money that they wanted to be saving all went on medical bills that as yet haven't produced a child. All the stress piled up, and I don't know how they kept moving forward.
I think it was 2013 when a manager at his job wrapped Anthony in a bear hug messing around, and when he wouldn't let him go Anthony threw him off tearing two discs. This was meant to be a 2 month injury, but damage to nerves in his back has kept him in pain since and caused him to be hypersensitive to pain. He attempted to return to work many times even after them pushing him to do too much landed him in hospital unable to lift his legs off the bed. After returning from his hospital stay, they had him jammed in the corner of the garage where he sat alone and most days with nothing to do.
Depression set in, and anxiety too. He didn't know when if ever he would be able to support his wife again, or when his back would go out. He has always been very open about this. He lost a friend to suicide in 2011 and blames the negativity around mental illness stopping people from seeking help and talking about how they are feeling.
He tried his best to get small jobs working at home, and offered to subcontract work from home for his former employer but that was rejected. Then TJ got very sick, again without care for themselves or the debt they'd incur they fought to the end to keep their little man alive. He passed away in 2015, his heart just couldn't cope. This would be only the beginning of a terrible year.
2015 would also see the passing of Anthony's Nonna and Nonno within 5 months, and then the news his kidneys wouldn't last much longer. Until now the belief was that the disease passed down wouldn't progress to end stage renal failure till his 50's but at just 32 he was told to prepare himself for surgeries and life on dialysis. Maybe it was the stress over the years that brought it forward, no one really knows.
2016 was dialysis 3 days a week, 45 minute drives to drop him off and pick him up from the royal Melbourne hospital. It was more financial and mental stress they didn't need, and were finally moved to a closer location 4 months later. Ant has bad eyesight on top of everything else, and combined with the exhaustion from the treatment itself, is unable to drive, so Natalie and his father are his taxi drivers.
Whether it's the treatments, or the body not coping with the blood not being as clean as it should be, Ant struggles with even hanging washing or a quick trip to the shops. This certainly isn't helping his depression and anxiety. Their families have done all they can to ease their stress, now I hope this can help.
Ant loves the footy, and somehow Nat got him to every game the Melbourne football club played in Melbourne 2016. They'd get in early and sometimes still not make it into the ground by the start of the gameHe has to sit down outside the ground at the end, and takes a while to get to the car, but he loves his Demons. Financial strains and declining health would restrict him to only attend 6 games in 2017.
2017 until the transplant has been no better, if anything everything piled up is making things worse and how he and Nat stay upbeat around us is beyond me. This is as much for Nat as it is for Ant, she's a saint and I don't know how she has gone through so much with him and is still standing. I don't know where he would be without her.
Down to 1 car doesn't help and it's old and falling apart. The thermostat went recently, then an $1800 bill for repairs and a service ate Nat's tax return they were hoping could help catch up on other bills. It's on its last legs, and I have no idea how they'll be able to replace it.
Please help ease their stress and take financial issues off the table for at least a little while. Anything at all you can contribute will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Organizer
Fil Franek
Organizer
Fairfield VIC
