Hi, I’m Josh Burd. I am just a regular family guy, who, like many others, works hard paycheck to paycheck to care for my 3 children. Two of them just graduated high school, and my oldest is a disabled adult son who is on the autism spectrum.

My family and I recently found ourselves facing some unexpected setbacks due to medical expenses. It all started on July 7th, 2025. It seemed just like another day until suddenly I found myself hospitalized for what the doctors thought was a GI bleed. I had a critically low hemoglobin, critically low white and red blood cells, as well as low platelets, stage 3a kidney disease, and an enlarged spleen and liver. I had to get 3 blood transfusions. After the transfusions, my hemoglobin, as well as white and red blood cells, kept dropping. Doctors aren’t sure what is causing this. Now I’m in need of a bone marrow biopsy to try and find some answers.

My wife is working and caring for all of us but is barely scraping by. And like myself, she is working paycheck to paycheck but has also missed work due to having to take care of me and get me back and forth to doctor appointments.

Unfortunately, I do not have health insurance at this time and have been denied the assistance of Medicaid. I haven’t been able to work since I was hospitalized. I’m unable to go into public due to such a low immune system. I have hospital bills as well as other bills at home starting to pile up. Since I’m a self-pay patient and not insured, I’m required to pay a large percentage for the procedure upfront. I’m trying to raise funds to help pay for the hospital bills and home bills while I’m out of work due to this unknown illness.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for your time and for reading my story.