Helping Jonathan Overcome GBS

Talk to any friend of Jonathan Harris and they will tell you that he is fun-loving, hard-working, and dedicated father. They will also tell you that he has a love for his community, which is evident by how much he has chosen to give back. In 2002, he became a volunteer firefighter at the Avilla fire station and in 2014, he was promoted to chief. He has two children, a son who is 17 and a daughter who is 10. His favorite moments are spent by simply being dad, going to movies, and just being present in their lives. He also works in a machine shop and works as a tow truck driver. There is no doubt that Jonathan has a love for helping people and clearly keeps a very busy schedule. Never did he think he would have to make time to be sick. At the end of October 2017 his whole word began to turn upside down. He started to feel numbness in his hands and that spread to his legs, making it difficult to grasp objects or walk. On November 2, 2017 he was admitted into the hospital and eventually diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome. His body was attacking his nerves and ultimately left him paralyzed. While the prognosis for Guillain-Barre Syndrome is good, he has a long and expensive road to recovery. During his recovery process he has experienced many setbacks. In November, just before Thanksgiving was his first setback. He went into respiratory failure and required being in a medically induced coma and on the ventilator for the following week. Eventually, he was able to go back to rehab, but that did not last long. After only a few days at rehab, his lung collapsed and once again he needed ventilatory support. He has been in the ICU since December 10th, 2017 and since then his lung has collapsed 3 times, he has a continuous need for ventilatory support, and has had a total 4 chest tubes put in. Through this whole process, he has remained in good spirits and is optimistic about his recovery. Once his respiratory issues are resolved he will be able to go to rehab again. But, because of these medical setbacks, that has increased his recovery time substantially. He will require speech, occupational, and physical therapies for several months. This has placed a significant hardship on him and his family. As friends of Jonathan, we are asking that you give back to a man who as given so much. He has a long road to recovery ahead of him and he needs your support.