Dear Friends, Colleagues and Acquaintances of Bernie,  

As Bernie Jezowski continues to receive life-saving chemotherapy and hemodialysis, and recovers from the ravages of COVID-19 at the London Hammersmith Hospital (for 1 month to date, including the last 14 days in ICU under a ventilator, in a medically induced coma),  we, the siblings, parents and friends of Bernie (Ela, Emil, Paul, Joachim & Kasia, Jozefina & Adam and Marek & Ludmila) are appealing to you as we launch this campaign intended to mobilise the much needed financial support for Bernie, Bogna and their three boys, at the moment of their existential need.


The Financial Need

We aim to collect the sum of £9,000, which represents 3 months’ worth of the family’s living expenses, until the end of May 2021, plus pending specialist equipment purchases and home repair & improvement costs, eg. a damp survey and likely insulation, that are becoming a priority with Bernie’s compromised immune system upon approaching return. The time slot in which you are being asked to respond to this appeal is limited; we need to raise £2,000 of the sum outstanding by the end of February (within the next 2 weeks), towards the next month's rent, house bills and food.

The Backstory: Multiple Myeloma, Kidney Failure and COVID-19

Our dearest Bernie Jezowski (35 years old), a loving husband, proud father of three precious boys (9yo Niko, 8yo Jesse and 5yo Aaron), and an ardent London-based freelance graphic designer (https://berniedave.co/), was hospitalised on 13 January 2021 in ‘critical condition’ at the Hammersmith Hospital, where he continues to be treated and cared for. Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma Cancer (MM or cancer of the bone marrow) and attendant kidney failure, he was put on a high-frequency hemodialysis regime followed by chemotherapy treatment. As a result, Bernie’s condition became ‘stable critical’ over the initial weeks and the doctors’ daily reports provided us with insights into some hopeful small improvements in his health.

However, after that stabilising period lasting two weeks, COVID-19 infection caused Bernie to develop rapidly worsening respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) that required intubation. He once again became ‘critical,’ with high mortality risk, and starting from the night of 27 January he spent the next fortnight provided with mechanical ventilation and in a state of medically induced coma. This protected his initially collapsed lungs and alleviated the effects of extensive pulmonary fibrosis. Ultimately, his lungs regained the ability to breathe spontaneously, and on the second attempt he was successfully weaned off the ventilator, just in time to avoid the otherwise required tracheotomy procedure. Doctors said that Bernie woke up with a smile and transitioned smoothly into independent yet still assisted breathing. We were overjoyed when we understood that his lung capacity recovered to some degree and that the COVID-19 induced fibrosis was to some extent reversible long term!

Having said all that, Bernie is only very gradually regaining strength, as he battles MM, kidney failure (perhaps partially reversible) and extensive pulmonary fibrosis (possibly also partially reversible). Also, after such a prolonged time in a coma, his nervous system requires time to regenerate. At this time, the doctors are not ready to predict when he is going to be ready for hospital discharge. Therefore, please, treat our suggestion that Bernie would remain unable to return to his vocation and earn a living for a minimum of the next three months purely as our optimistic expectation. 

Support For Bernie's Wife Bogna and Their Three Sons 

It is worth mentioning that two of the family’s boys attend a local authority maintained school for pupils with diagnosis of autism, and that Bernie’s decision to go professionally independent in 2018 -- following a highly successful salaried graphic design career spanning close to nine years -- was in a large part informed by his decision to devote more time to his sons, to invest his capacities into their relational development. The ongoing series of lockdowns has disrupted the boys’ duly established routines and has put an extra strain on the family as they proceeded to adjust to staying at home and online learning. Now, with Bernie in hospital care, the three boys rely entirely on their mother for all of their needs.

As we have managed to form support bubbles with his household, we, Bernie’s three London-based siblings and friends (Ela, Emil and Joachim & Kasia), are able to take turns in visiting and assisting Bogna and the boys for as long as this is required. 

Your considerate support would enable us to raise the £9,000: to be donated to Bernie’s family at this time of intense uncertainty, as they prepare for the yet undefined moment of being reunited with their beloved husband and father, when he is at last able to continue his recovery from home. This 3-month provision would afford the family the much needed ‘financial safety net’ as they transition into their ‘new normal’ that from now on needs to incorporate into their family life: the ongoing MM cancer treatment, kidney and lung function support, and figuring out viable solutions for their future long term, as Bernie recovers and reapplies himself to his professional duties.




How You Can Help 

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our appeal! Please consider donating. We will deeply appreciate your donations, no matter the size; they will help us reach the fundraising goal and alleviate some of the impending financial burdens resulting from this abrupt loss of family income. 

Help Us Get the Word Out 

If you can’t donate, you can still help by getting the word out! Please, feel free to share the link to your Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media platform timelines, in order to help maximise the outreach to the people that know Bernie, as they have worked, studied and/or socialised with him, and thus have, in some way, been impacted by his life and work.

Thank you!!!  
Ela and the fundraising team x