Joey suffered an anoxic brain injury due to cardiac arrest on August 14. We were told that he would not live, that if he lived he’d never breathe on his own or wake up. After many prayers and over 3 months in the hospital, he not only breathes on his own, but he is awake, talking, he can do fist bumps, he is moving his legs and feet slightly also. For right now he is bed bound needing 24/7 care. I fully believe that God heard all of our prayers and he is not done healing Joey. The brain is a mystery, a wondrous creation, it does regenerate and re-establish connections, we have no idea how much he can get back but what we do know is it takes time, a lot of time.

Although Joey has made amazing progress, according to Salem Hospital, it’s not enough to qualify him for inpatient rehab or even a skilled nursing facility with on-site rehabilitation.

They are pressuring us to allow them to discharge him to an adult foster home immediately, and we almost bowed to the pressure as they assured us that it would be a temporary stop gap until I could combine our households to bring him home. My expressed goal was always to bring him home as we feel all his progress would cease in an adult foster home with strangers. What they did not inform me until we reluctantly acquiesced was that they would be utilizing his entire SSDI check for the foster home, this would leave his home rent unpaid. The 2 bdrm upstairs apartment that he shares with his significant other Desi, his son, their support animals and all their belongings.

My intention is to move them into a larger handicap accessible downstairs unit, (so that she and I can share in his 24 hour care). I ended the family leave I had taken to be by his side, returning to work, determined to start getting the funds together for this move. It has been especially hard because every day while away from Joey at work, Joey has the nurses call me for him. He says, “ Mom, I need you, please come mom” & that breaks my heart.

The need to make this move has become urgent, we are working with the property management company now, we had to wait for the guardianship to come through before they would even talk to us. There is no time to save up as the hospital is unrelenting.

Once we have him in an accessible home, both Desi and I would be able to receive pay for his care along with his SSD, we will be able to maintain. We are asking for help with the Deposit, First months, & moving costs.

Thank you cousins Laverne & Jovita for the direct donations not listed on this platform. Thank You to all who have donated here, I can’t even think of the proper words to express my great appreciation for your generosity. Thank you to all who have shared, and to all who have prayed. ❤️