Donations for Dominic

On behalf of my nephew Dominic, I’ve decided to start this account. I’m not one who is known to share family matters such as this on social media but, given the situation I feel it’s  necessary.  I’ve discussed this with Dominic and my sister Amy, and they are sincerely grateful for my attempt at helping Dom financially. 

Dominic is my oldest nephew. He is 24 years old and from the day he was born we knew he had a horrible disease called Cystic Fibrosis. (CF) Dom has spent his entire life in and out of the hospital.   We’ve attempted many trial medications that didn’t help, we even made the attempt to get on the transplant list, but he was always not sick enough, or was too sick. 

Even through all of his trials and tribulations, Dominic has never let CF hold him back from his passion. Motocross!He’s raced in many many races, and many different states and was even being sponsored at one point!

In 2002 when Dom was 7 years old, Make A Wish brought him to Disney World and a Disney Cruise. He doesn’t remember much of the trip, he was sick and still pretty young .   

On October 14th,2018 Dominic was rushed by ambulance to Boston Children’s Hospital in acute respiratory failure. As you can imagine, my sister and our entire family was beside ourselves. With CF we always knew it was a terminal disease, but we just weren’t ready for what was about to happen.

Upon arrival, Dom was admitted to ICU and shortly after he became completely unresponsive. The doctor came in and gave us the devastating news. We were losing him. They promised to do everything they could do to keep him comfortable and pain free. Dominic was once again fighting for his life. 

We all knew he was in respiratory failure but my sister sensed something else was wrong. She was right...

A little while later, we found out that Dom’s body was retaining Carbon Dioxide at a fatal level of 99.97%. He’s body was unable to expel the Carbon Dioxide and he was poisoning himself. The doctors gave my sister the option to give him a final dose of morphine, but my sister refused. They told us not to get our hopes up and they moved us to the family room. You know, the room with the large family bed, where you can say goodbye to your loved ones. That room...

Dominic remained in the “room” for several days unresponsive. After tons of praying, crying, and pleading, our prayers were
answered and Dominic woke up! 

He beat the odds once again and slowly began to expel the C02 from his system! After two weeks in ICU they sent Dom home!!

Now you have to understand, Dom has been sick many, many, many times, but not like this. Even though he’s home, he has IV’s that my sister has to administer medications through every few hours. He’s also on oxygen 24/7. He’s on a ventilator 12 hours a day, and has 12 different oral medications he has to take daily. His lungs are only functioning at 21%.

Because of this, Dominic is unable to work. He’s always prided himself on paying his own way and having his own money, so this is a major blow for him. He does receive SSI however, this alone doesn’t even come close to covering his monthly bills.

What I’m trying to do is raise funds for him so he can pay his bills,so he can rest and heal. I don’t want him to be stressed about his monthly obligations, until he is able to overcome this major setback with his health. 

 I  am asking all my friends and family to please consider donating  for Dominic. I’d love to be able to lift his financial burden to allow him the proper time to rest and heal. If you’re unable to help financially we would sure appreciate the prayers! 

Once Dom recovers from this medical set back, he plans to live out the rest of his life as if he wasn’t sick at all. He wants to go back to work and wants to accomplish the rest of his bucket list! Last summer I took him to swim with the dolphins , so we checked that one right off! I’m also trying to take him on a cruise this summer to the Bahamas, (that’s also on his list) when he finally gets cleared to travel! 

Any donation amount is greatly appreciated. There isn’t any amount too small. I plan on updating the account with updates on his heath, and his achievements. I’ll gladly provide medical documentation, and answer any and all questions regarding his health and progress. 

Thank you you so much for listening to my nephews story, and please consider donating. 

Thanks,
Mande