Hi!  My name is Michelle.  Most of you know me as Jason’s little sister. I have started this Go Fund Me for my brother.  What most of you don’t know is that Jason has been hit hard with major health issues recently. He left a job about 18 months ago, planning on helping a friend open a restaurant and bar.  For many reasons, including the pandemic this did not pan out.  Upon leaving his previous employment he lost his insurance.  Through the start of the pandemic, he struggled to find work.  He started working last fall driving a forklift.  This position however is through a temporary employment agency and does not provide insurance. 

On March 24 Jason began feeling ill and disoriented.  He drove him self to Urgent care and then to the Emergency Room.  He was admitted that evening with what they thought was dangerously high blood pressure, pneumonia, and acute kidney injury.  His Blood pressure was 2xx/1xx.  He was admitted and that is when the testing and work to figure out what was going on started. Jason doesn’t remember much of his time in the hospital as he was sleeping while his body adjusted to a new blood pressure and everything else going on. 

After further testing it was found that he did not have pneumonia but was suffering from congestive heart failure, causing fluid build-up around the heart and lungs.  They also drained 600cc’s of fluid from his bladder.  A few days into the hospital stay our mother asked the staff to do a CT scan because he wasn’t comprehending or remembering things.  They immediately came back and did an MRI. The doctor found several infarks on Jason’s brain. An Infark is dead tissue due to lack of blood supply.  The Neurologist stated that Jason had had several mini strokes. Some looked older than others. 

He was released from the hospital on March 30th.  He has been healing at our mother and step-father’s house.  He did make a quick trip back to the ER, where we found out his kidney disease is more advanced than we thought. 

After seeing his cardiologist, nephrologist, and neurologist this week, it has been determined that he will be on several meds for his heart and that he has stage 5 kidney disease. (kind of scary, right?) He will be having surgery to insert a catheter in to is abdomen. He will then be administering peritoneal dialysis at home, to filter his blood.  He has several upcoming appointments to square everything away.  We will also be having him checked for Fabry disease which is a rare disease, but runs in our family.  This disease effects the heart and kidneys.

Jason has a long road a head of him.  We need him to focus on recovery and what his new world looks like. Unfortunately, while in the hospital he was denied Medicaid.  Disability often takes a year or more to get approved.  Jason will be unable to work for quite a while.  Anything you could do to help with the mounting hospital, doctor and treatment bills would be a blessing.  It will be one less thing for him to worry about.  If you are unable to donate to his fund, please keep him in your prayers.  As a family of faith we know that prayers help. 

I will try to keep everyone updated as the appointments happen.  It looks at this point like dialysis is probably about a month out, as he has to allow for the catheter to heal before they can start the dialysis.  In the words of my favorite older brother, “Love You Long Time.”  Our whole family wants to thank you for your prayers and donations.