Main fundraiser photo

Help Jones Recieve Treatment for Advanced Lyme

Donation protected

In brief

Please donate to care for Jones as he is treated for advanced lyme disease at Mass General Hospital’s Lyme Program.

The urgency of Jones’s condition made itself clear over the last month, and he is now in constant pain with limited mobility. Hurricane Ida forced him to evacuate, and we have relocated so that he can seek treatment at the Boston Lyme Center.

The process of treatment and recovery will take many months, and we need your help to make sure Jones has what he needs for the duration of these difficult times.

We are struggling, with $35,000 of high interest debt that remains from the Tiger Bakery closing when Covid hit.

Anything you can do to help during this time will be felt, and appreciated.

The full story

Hey beautiful people, some of you may know that while I was opening and running The Tiger Bakery in 2019 my son Jones had a CFS leak caused by a bad spinal tap at Ochsner Hospital.

After 4 unsuccessful surgical attempts to fix the leak at Ochsner, and with your help, we were able to get Jones to Duke hospital in North Carolina, where he ultimately had the back surgery he needed with a qualified specialist.

It has taken time, but thanks to the brilliant surgeons at Duke His CSF leak was repaired and he has healed from that wound.

What some of you might not know, is that the reason Jones had a spinal tap at Ochsner in the first place, was because he had been bitten by a Lyme tick, and Jones had, and still has Lyme disease.

Over the course of this summer the effects of Lyme have become more pronounced ultimately reaching a crisis point.

As of today Jones has continued to test positive for Lyme. He can not stand up for more than a few minutes at a time, and is in constant pain.

Against the backdrop of Jones getting sicker, and while he was having blood tests done in New Orleans to rule out co-infections and complications such as leukemia, and covid, (thank goodness he tested negative for those), Hurricane Ida showed up, and shut down the city: no power, no emergency services and no hospital care. Jones was forced to evacuate, as everything stopped for the storm.

According to the CDC, untreated Lyme disease can cause:

  • Chronic joint inflammation (Lyme arthritis), particularly of the knee, which can severely limit mobility.
  • Neurological symptoms, such as facial palsy and neuropathy.
  • Cognitive defects, such as impaired memory.
  • Heart rhythm irregularities.
  • Tingling hands and feet
  • Pain in tendons, muscles, joints, and bones
  • Nerve pain

Jones has all of these.

The good news is that we know where to go. While researching what could possibly be done to help my son, I discovered the Lyme treatment center in Boston. Once I saw that place… I knew what needed to happen next.

Mass General Hospital in Boston has a Lyme disease program, run by Dr Allen Steere who is one of the foremost Lyme experts in the world. He discovered the disease!

Click HERE to read more about the program

Last week, I scrambled to get an apartment near Boston, and now, a week later, I have one. Jones is here with me, and he was even able to keep his cat! Cosimo evacuated from hurricane Ida too. We feel very grateful to be in the right place… but meanwhile, we do not have things like tables, chairs, and beds.

It is such a fraught time. We both feel that we should be in New Orleans helping to clean up and care for the city and the people we love who stayed. At the same time we know getting Jones treatment is the only path forward.

Often treatment for advanced Lyme is a month or two of intravenous antibiotics. Other times immunosuppressant drugs are needed additionally, after the intravenous antibiotics. Our plan is that we will stay here so that Jones can be treated at the Lyme program and finally actually get well.

Normally, all these sudden changes might not be an insurmountable problem.

However, having to suddenly close the Tiger Bakery has not left me in the strongest financial position.

I am struggling to pay off 35k of high interest loans* from opening the bakery. My debt payment is $1000 per month.

Jones would like nothing more than to return to New Orleans and finish college at Loyola.

I am asking for your help caring for Jones and paying off my debt from opening and then having to close the Tiger Bakery due to the COVID-19 crisis.

I want you all to know, I loved having the bakery, I loved giving you treats and making special things for you, I love New Orleans, and I love you.

Make sure to take care of yourselves. I sure understand if this is not the right time for you to give.

These last three years have been a lot. Jones Lola, Xixi, and myself have grown closer to each other and stronger as a family as we have all been tested. I have surely grown closer to God.

I feel that this moment has every possibility of allowing our family to finally turn a corner and care for my oldest child who is so very loved.

Please help our family to recover, so that Jones can get the help he needs, and return to you well and strong.

Love You All.

Omie, Jones, Lola & Xixi


*A note about high interest loans: ordinarily debt  consolidation would be the thing to do.  But as someone who makes their living doing astrology, I just don't qualify.  On that note, if you would prefer to book a consultation rather than/in addition to donating, that would also go a long way towards making our situation more stable. You can do that by clicking the link HERE 

Donate

Donations 

    Donate

    Organizer

    Jones Devereaux
    Organizer
    Medford, MA

    Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

    • Easy

      Donate quickly and easily

    • Powerful

      Send help right to the people and causes you care about

    • Trusted

      Your donation is protected by the GoFundMe Giving Guarantee