My name is Brandon Dilworth. I’m from a small town called Nettleton, Mississippi. I found a career in trucking back in 2018, and I love doing my part to help keep America moving forward.

In 2020, I was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder called TTP (Thrombotic Thrombocytopenia Purpura), where basically there is a process that starts in my blood where I lose platelets. Back in March of 2020, I was rushed to the ER, confused, head pounding, vomiting every 2 mins, had to be wheeled in and ended up being hospitalized for a couple of weeks. When I arrived at the ER, they couldn’t figure out what was the cause of the symptoms I was having until they ran test and saw that my blood counts were critically low. I had to receive 6 pints of blood and experienced renal failure. I had to go through this treatment process similar to dialysis called plasma pheresis in order to restore my platelets and other blood counts. The doctors informed me that without the transfusion and prompt plasma therapy, I could have died from losing most of my blood cells. By the grace of God, the treatment process worked, and I was on my way to recovery, which took about 4 months to fully recover as my body went through several changes from taking different medications and treatments, one of which is a steroid called prednisone, which I was taking a very high dose of (50mg).

I’ve dealt with this condition off and on for 5 years now, and it has taken a major toll on my life and my career as a truck driver. The doctor originally informed me that even though this is a rare condition, it sometimes can be treated and put in remission, and for some patients, it never flares up again. But then there are some where they continue to have flare-ups, and I’m one of the ones that has had multiple flare-ups. Every year it flares up at random times, taking me away from my job where I can’t make an honest living at a consistent pace because when I have flare-ups, it calls for immediate medical attention right away because with low platelets you’re at high risk for bleeding internally from any type of fall or anything also at risk for brain bleeds and of course it’s not a condition that gets better on its own. Until I receive treatment as I did in the hospital, it can be fatal if left untreated. It always causes me to miss time away from work because in order to receive the treatments, a triple lumen catheter has to be inserted in my right jugular or in my neck, and with that, it limits my daily activities as long as I have it. I can always tell when my platelets drop, the first glaring symptom is always petechiae followed by bruising without any kind of physical contact, other alarming symptoms include my heart rate being fast and the color of my urine changes to more of a blood like tint to it because the condition attacks 2 major organs, your heart and your kidneys.

I’ve tried to apply for disability but was denied and am currently in the process of trying again with help from the hospital. Two years ago, I missed about 9 months of work because I kept having flare-ups and was in and out of the hospital because even though the plasma pheresis treatments worked, they would only be a temporary fix without an immunosuppressant drug called Rituxan, Rituxan is usually the go to infusion treatment for this condition and I’ve been fortunate enough in the past to receive the infusions without any allergic reactions to it but unfortunately it got to a point where my body just wouldn’t allow me to receive the infusions I needed in order to have a chance at putting it in remission. So we ended up having to go with alternative methods, in May of 2023, I had a splenectomy done in order to hopefully put my condition in remission for good, at least that’s what we had hoped. I was able to go back to trucking for a little while, but at the end of October 2024, I began to start having TTP flare-ups again and ended up right back in the hospital with a critically low platelet count of 17,000. A normal platelet count ranges between 150,000-400,000, and mine was well below that. Sometimes they have been lower even all the way down to 2,000. I was immediately admitted into the hospital where I once again received plasma pheresis and had to have the catheter inserted into my neck, which even then with low platelets is tricky because once inserted I bleed from the injection site from low platelets. I bled so much one time they had to send me to ccu in order to get the bleeding to stop so I could receive my treatment. Thankfully they were able to stop the bleeding. As always, my body responded to the treatments promptly, and we were able to catch the condition before it got too bad.

Currently, I am still off of work because of this condition. It seems no matter what treatment process I’ve gone through, nothing has really worked long term, and it’s really put my life in a bind financially. I had a trucking accident in September of 2024 where I lost control, causing me to roll my truck over. That accident caused me to lose my job, and ever since then, it has been tough to find another one as most trucking companies' insurance do not cover rollovers. I ended up missing more extended time from work due to injuries from the accident, which were minor but injuries nonetheless. Luckily, my blood condition never flared up while I was in recovery, which for a moment gave me hope that maybe the splenectomy had finally put my condition to bed for good, but that wasn’t the case. I started to have flare ups again causing me to once again be off of work, and back in the hospital to receive treatments again, I had hoped the splenectomy had finally cured my condition for good, which it held up for over a year, which was also the longest I had been in remission since my original diagnosis in 2020, but I was right back to square one, months go by and no source of income other than a few family members helping me along the way because dr orders i couldn’t return to work until my condition is under control, but even then it’s a long drawn out process and time passes and bills constantly pile up on me and sadly I ended up getting behind in my car payments because I had missed time from work recovering and did not receive any kind of financial support during that time to be able to keep up and Ultimately, it has led to me recently losing my car, as it was repossessed, so now I don't have reliable transportation to get back and forth to my doctor’s appointments, and I’ve recently had to even reschedule quite a few of them because I couldn’t find a ride to get there. I worked so hard to put myself in a position to succeed, but my body won’t let me. But I refuse to give up because God is always able, and I’m always willing to follow His lead. I’m trying currently to get to a point where I can have reliable transportation again so I can get to where I need to go without bothering people. I just ask if the Lord puts it on your heart to help me, please be so kind to give what’s on your heart. I am a man, an honest man, who just wants to provide and make an honest living, and live my life the way God intended, I am human and I am not a man who will let his pride keep him from his blessings, anyone that knows me knows I love to help those in need when I’m able, I hate to be a burden to anyone and I have trouble reaching out and asking people for help when I truly need it, it’s just who I am, I do understand everyone needs help sometimes no one can do everything on their own, sometimes helping those in need can be the biggest blessing not only for them but also you because God is always watching and he knows where your heart truly is and he continues to use us to spread love and show support❤️ All contributions/donations will be used for medical bills and essential needs such as groceries, day to day necessities and other bills due to lack of income during my disability claim process. I’m thankful for anything I may receive and I pray God blesses those who chose to bless me and I also pray I’m able to bless those people the way they have me❤️