Dixie's Road to Good Health & Pokémon Master!

Howdy guys! Shon, or SKHURT (as some of you know me online) here!

Normally I don't make or engage with these beyond anonymously donating, however I've found myself stuck between a family of rocks, and an incredibly strong young man who continuously reminds me why we all do what we do.

I met Dixie and his family earlier this year, probably even sometime last year in passing, and every instance is an absolute joy. Mrs. Kaitie and her Husband Alex are phenomenal people, and I've been blessed to spend quite a few instances with them and their kiddo Dixie, and another young man they care for named Jarell. We usually trade and sell around Pokemon cards together, helping lil' man learn the cardboard economy and progress himself as both a trainer, collector, and early starting vendor, and just chat about life and what's to come with Poke.

What I didn't expect, however, was Dixie and I to both find out we're both immunocompromised. Day in and day out we're both consistently battling dwindling energy, poor health, and so much more, but I see him do the same thing I do; he endures.

I see Dixie usually every weekend, or just about, and we trade Pokemon cards back and forth continuously buffing up his personal collection and giving him extra cards to trade and sell around to help him secure new cards and product. He's incredibly gifted with researching cards, their prices, and is getting shown how to navigate condition checking cards and determining their grade potential if they were to be sent off for grading. His goal? He wants to do Pokemon, and orient around it. He wants to be a kid. With that in mind I'm asking for help reaching this donation goal to help alleviate even SOME of his previous and upcoming medical situations, with an additional chunk of what's donated going straight to helping him purchase everything he needs to setup a real true booth/product for Pokemon card shows and get the experience he's mentally already sat down and prepared for.

My goal with this GoFundMe is to highlight Dixie and his family, and help get them to a place of at least decent financial stability for even a bit. Even a dollar helps, and you can trust and believe that this family will put the funds to good use. I may be creating this for them with their approval, however I'm claiming 0% of any funds donated. If you happen to be a friend of mine and are reading this, please, even if you can't donate just take a moment to look into Dixie and his family's story. It would mean the world to me to have others support this family the same way I love and support them, and to see Dixie able to excel in the Pokemon scene while he's still a child and able to fully enjoy and grasp the hobby. Him and I sit down already and discuss prices, trending cards, cards that look cool, and essentially anything Pokemon. He already sells REAL mystery packs & singles, and gives some of the most cut throat prices you'll find while being an incredible salesman. He sees our friends vend at shows, sees me trading and selling constantly, and really truly wants to do what we do, but better. I believe he can, and I believe he will accomplish that.

Below is a message from Dixie's Mother, Kaitie. I've left it as she wrote it, as I feel that's more appropriate.

"Dixie was about 2 when he was first seriously hospitalized. That's when we started to see his immune system was a little off. Small sniffles turned into pneumonia. He was diagnosed under 2 with Asthma, which his Dad also had chronically. Asthma can pass generationally, so we began testing, and he was on a number of medications to find what worked best. While we found some things that worked, we found Dixie Joe was often back to the Dr. for a cold, to find the Pneumonia is back. We were so fortunate in a time of need, after we moved down to SWFL to find Golisanos Children's Hospital. They quite literally saved his life a handful of very scary times in his now- 8 years. The great Specialists worked with him, and found he not only had asthma, but many dietary and environmental allergies that were compromising his immune system. After a lot of testing, we found a new diet to follow, and quickly we saw a lot of improvement in the short term. The dietary list was long, and very complicated to navigate. He handled it SO well, and never complained about all of the things he wasn't able to enjoy anymore. He handles life with such understanding... he is genuinely beyond his years. We have come a very long way with his health journey, but we are now navigating some new specialists to look deeper into his immune system. As he gets older, missing school to recover, do his breathing treatments affects him more. The last two years we have faced a lot of insurance issues, medication coverage, and price increases. This year seems to have hit even harder walls with our insurance coverage, and medication prices. This kid is our absolute world. We are so so thankful for your compassion and caring. It's genuinely so hard because we are usually the people helping others. It feels like a bad dream to be on this side of things. But truly grateful. And we will find a way through it all, and pay it forward."

Thank you so much for reading, and to anyone that donates please leave a message with your donation so we can all collectively read and share amongst our communities! We appreciate any and every bit of help, as well as your time, and hope everyone has an amazing rest of their month of June. I'll leave this up until my birthday in July, and keep up with this page with his family. To everyone that knows us in person, or even online, thank you for helping motivate me and push this young man and his family to a better place. It truly means the world. Thank you.