Help Johnny Beat JDM so He Can Walk Again

Hi! My name is Jay Francisco and I am fund raising for the son of my dear friend who is currently battling with JDM or juvenile dermatomyositis. JDM is an autoimmune disease that affects muscle, skin and small blood vessels in children. The body's immune system attacks its own healthy muscle, skin and blood vessel tissues because it mistakenly sees them as invaders. In Johnny’s case, JDM slowly took his ability to walk and even sit down on his own at a very young age of 4. Please read further along to hearJohnny’s mom and her plea for help …

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Hi, my name is Martina Gabriel, mother of Johnny (4 yo). We call him “Bambino”; his classmates calls him Johnny while some call him John. He is our one and only dear son; the love of our life and our sunshine❤️.

In 2019, Johnny was diagnosed with a very rare type of autoimmune disease called JDM - that’s when the roller coaster of emotions poured in. Johnny is such a happy child, overflowing with love & positive energy. My husband and I made a decision to be on top of things; educate ourselves with this illness and figure out how to help our son go through it.

Over one half of patients with JDM develop a chronic disease 24 months after diagnosis; the disease manifests as rash, muscle weakness, or both. In severe disease, impairments in physical function may lead to some limb contractures - which, unfortunately, my son has been diagnosed under the severe classification of JDM.

Since then, Johnny has been undergoing treatment with the following medication to help ease the pain & ill effects: Prednisone, Methotrexate weekly injections, Hydrochloroquine, Folic Acid, and other key supplements. He also received 7 sessions of IVIG which we considered “liquid gold”, a very expensive infusion therapy. He had weekly sessions also of methylprednisolone therapy due to his active disease and a lot calcinosis development all over his body. Calcinosis is a major source of pain and functional disability for this autoimmune disease.

We do not know what causes JDM. Many factors have been looked into as we were begging for answers as to why it happened to our son. No one factor has been found as the reason for JDM.

Since he is in the severe classification, my son needs rituximab infusion, cycles of methylprednisolone, and IVIG infusion for 6 consecutive months. We were given the estimate for the medical bills that will be incurred and it is completely beyond our financial capabilities. It’s overwhelmingly huge. With our current financial situation, we can’t possibly generate that hefty amount. I have a full-time job but that alone is not enough to sustain his medication and therapy. Last July 2021, despite his rigorous treatment, Johnny slowly regressed and he can no longer stand nor walk, nor sit on his own. This led us to a hard decision that my husband needed to stay at home to provide full assistance to carry and move Johnny around - further impairing our means to earn money for his treatment.

Johnny is a kind hearted and free-spirited kid. He loves music, and loved to sing and dance before all of these happened. We are praying he can dance again soon. For now, Johnny must stop his online schooling to tend his medical needs and therapy.

This has truly been a roller coaster ride for us - affecting us mentally, physically and financially. It’s hard to see your only child go through a lot of needle pricking, on and off hospital visits and, having to take all those strong medications for his little body. But he remains to be a fighter above it all, so a fighting mom and dad we’ll be.

Please … if you are able to donate anything it would mean so much to our family and could help Johnny with his treatment. My family and I are asking for any financial aid for our son’s upcoming expenses for Johnny’s treatment and medicines. 100% of the donations will go to our son’s medical needs. Thank you everyone for taking the time to read and share this fundraiser.

Martina Gabriel

God Bless you All.

Thank you.

Martina & Aldrich

Johnny’s Parents