David asked me to try again. Our gofundme is not a scam. To clear things up ohp isn't an option for him because
1. He makes too much. Our cost of living is bearly enough to get by.
2. He's insured with Medicare and through his job. Ohp dropped him because he can't have that many insurances.
3. Ohp does cover dental but only preventative care. This is beyond that.
4. 01/04/2025 ohp is now going to cover dental. Yet he doesn't qualify for ohp because he has to be on medicaid to cover his dialysis treatments. They will not insure him with both. So still no dental cover.
5. Medicaid is under threat.
David is my life partner and we have been togther for a little over 4 years now. As many if our close friends know. David has been living a life the past 5 years with kidney failure. We know its genetic and runs in his family. Many of his family were able to get transplants and live longer lives. When david was a young adult his mother passed from her kidney disease. And years down the line david succumbed to what seemed to be inevitable. David is lucky because his kidneys did not fail until way later in life compared to his relatives. Although he is the youngest in his dialysis center. He is on a renal diet. And his diagnosis comes with its own challenges. Throughout all of this david remains a god fearing man I look upto. Always has a few dollars in his car to help out strangers. And is a light of beacon in his friends lives. We ALL love david tremendously. He has the biggest heart. Can be a dramatic as heck. But we love that about him. He's unique and unapologetically himself. He hosts out Tuesday dungeon and dragons campaigns. Makes his own worlds and uses character voices. Hand paints figures. And hand makes the terrain. He's a huge nerd. Loves playing video games with his friends. And treats me like a princess. He brings so much joy into everyone's lives. He's a man with the same kindof adventure and imagination kids have. Im greatful he never lost that. He's the strongest person I know. Loving. Respectable. In my eyes he is everything our world needs.
I held off on taking pictures because I did not want to degrade him. He knew it needed to be done due to people not understanding or grasping the complexities this brings. And giving as much information as possible then maybe it would help.
I've looked into free clinics for his dental care but they do not cover what he needs. He's only 31. He's been on dialysis for around 5 years now and he can't get on the transplant list until his teeth are dealt with. He has been diagnosed with peridontal disease which took affect due to his kidney failure and his body not being able to create saliva which helps fight off bacteria in the mouth. He brushes his teeth an hour after EVERY MEAL. Every day.
A little more history: We were both homeless and staying on a friends couch for 4 of those years and finally got into a place July 2023. That's why we're now dealing with this next step. You cannot get on the list without being on a lease for atleast 6 months. As of today 07/10/25 I had a gofund me going since the 6 month mark of moving here but it eventually got taken down. Im not sure why.
We managed to raise $300 and that went towards a consultation visit.
If you have any questions please feel free to ask David Russell or myself. My Facebook page is linked below for direct DMs, more pictures. And updates on our life :)
(Above link for comment access to more pictures)
The gofundme link is also pinned at the top of my page.
Leaving the edits of my post to show date and time lapse of progress.
Edit: 6/18/24 another tooth fell out. That makes 7 teeth
Edit 2: its been 6 months since i last updated.. he is now totalling at 13 teeth falling out. That makes once a month a tooth falls out. Please share if you cannot donate.
Edit: 05/14/25 let's do a little update shall we. David is now totalling 17 teeth that have fallen out. I counted the day before yesterday. His mouth is almost constantly in pain. Food is difficult for him to eat but he's mad stubborn and manages through the difficulties. Most of his top teeth are gone. He.. doesn't talk about it. I hate talking about it too. Theres.. more stuff that goes into the problems that have been happening that I dont feel comfortable blabbering all over social media about. But it's affected his health and way of life tremendously. Please share. Please help us advocate. Recently my job has cut my pay by $1.50 and cut my hours down to 10hours a week. So I'm only making like $180 a paycheck and figuring out how we're supposed to survive off that ontop of trying to get ahead of this. It's been a long time since I made this post. And we managed to raise $300 which went towards a consultation appointment where they referred us out to specialists. We used the his dental credit card to pay off the remainder balance on that appointment. And then the referral people wanted to book an appointment for a consultation through them. So we waited until the new year alloted more money on his insurence dental credit card. And are just waiting to get into an appointment with them. Any donations will go towards that appointments and funding dentures so he can eat. David NEEDS dentures as he cannot eat a bunch of liquid stuff because his body doesn't filter out the liquids and needs solid foods. So he needs to be able to chew food.
(Pictures of David in comments to lighten the mood)
Edit: 5/27/25 another tooth came out yesterday. And another one today. Totalking a loss of 19 teeth.
Edit: 5/31/25. While we need donations to get davids teeth pulled and dentures. This month has been especially hard. My work for some reason has put me out on 4 hours a week at $15.20 an hour. Im not quite sure what's going on... David is in the midst of getting a total of 4 cardiovascular appointments done to check out his heart and his heart valves. To make sure everything is okay. His blood pressure has been dropping during dialysis and so they're not pulling enough off of him most days. They prescribed him blood pressure medication for the second time. He continued to tell his doctor is didnt work the first time. Yet he's been harassed about it enough he gave it another go. In treatment he could not get his blood pressure back up after taking the medication for that day. So he's been instructed to discontinue.
These last few weeks david has been waking up with really bad chest pain. That's pretty normal and has been a thing. He's always said it was acid reflux. Which makes sense. This feels different this time and sparked a red flag. Its good he has those appointments lined up.
Pls. We don't need advice on what todo. What not to do. He's listening to his doctors and doing the best we can.
Today. His car basically gave out. Im not sure if it was cause it was so hot out. Its been going out. We haven't had the funds to fix it. And he's still paying it off. He's pulled everything out of savings. But even that won't be enough to pay off his car and put a down payment on a new car. My disability won't let me know if they approve me or not until August.
Tbf. Its a lot that im just pushing away. Im at a loss. I dont know what to do. And we're both fucking scared. We don't talk about it often. Acknowledge the hardship. Just do our best to enjoy everyday. But today. As much as I tried. It was a hard one on us both. So.. yeah. That's the update. Thanks for reading.
EDIT: 07/10/25- I do have a job. But im still looking for something better and full time.
As we are aware david has periodontal disease due to his kidney failure and is on a renal diet. The overall goal is to get his remaining teeth pulled so that can be treated and get him dentures.
Onto my health. I assumed I was having stomach issues and health issues due to stomach ulcers running in my family. And due to neglecting the hard truths and wanting to kiss my boyfriend and love on him. I got diagnosed with HELICOBACTER PYLORI. Im not sure the extent of it. I think i have to make a dentist appointment for myself now. I have medications to rid the infection out of my body. But that means I cannot kiss my boyfriend on the lips... which idk. Is a big loss for both of us. i know many people may think that's not a big deal... but imagine it were you who could not longer kiss your lived ones. until he gets dental treatment and get an okay from his dentist and doctor this is our reality. I held off on communicating this and let it affect my health because I feared not having that contact. And I feared him blaming himself... and I fear the long term effects this will have on our relationship. I know we will be okay. sometimes I feel as if God is testing us again and again.... but that's irrelevant to what's at hand. I rather spend my life not being able to kiss my boyfriend then not have him here. The reality is. He won't be here if he doesn't get this done. His doctors will not approve him for transplant without treatment.
This is just another reason its so important for us to get anyone's help. We just want to live a semi normal life. And your help would change so much in our lives for the better. Share. Donate (even a $1 would help) And again. Thankyou for reading. Taking your time. And supporting us.
Edit: 07/10/25- im not sure where along the line it happened. But I counted his missing teeth and its totalling 19 teeth that's have fallen out.
Thankyou all. And God bless.