Help Raymond Secure a Second Lease on Life- Bowel Transplant

If you know Ray, you know he’s an incredible friend, brother, son & an even more incredible husband. If you know him, you also know that he is a picture perfect example of ‘when bad things happen to good people’. In June 2022, Ray underwent what was thought to be a simple procedure to fix a connection between his bowel and his bladder. During the surgery, errors were made, and Raymond ended up with holes in his colon, resulting in several fistulas to form throughout his bowel. He became septic and air and stool filled his abdomen requiring emergency surgery just 2 weeks after the original surgery. Because of this, his midline incision never healed and therefore became the exit for everything he ate and drank. He would drain 15-20 liters of bowel fluid a day, right out of his incision in his abdomen. It took a year and half to optimize him for the surgery with 24 hour contentious TPN and IV hydration. While we hoped and prayed this would fix everything and make my husband whole again. On Feb 21st, Raymond underwent a fistula take down repair with his incredible team at Tampa General Hospital. Unfortunately, due to the severity of Raymond’s Crohn’s, it exacerbated

the damage in his small bowel and causing it to essentially die. Raymond is now left with 3 feet of small bowel and the average person has 21 feet. The surgeon was able to do an intestinal bypass and connect everything but due to the extensive damage, Raymond now is requiring a Small Bowel Transplant since the bowel he has now is not enough to sustain nutrition. He is now on IV nutrition for 12 hours every night that is helping him to gain strength and some weight to try to get him strong enough to endure a transplant. This type of transplant is so rare, Jackson Memorial in Miami one of only 3 centers in the entire country that performs this specific transplant. Raymond is currently in stage 2: Testing. Stage 3 is next and that’s when they present his case to the board to be officially listed with UNOS. After he has the transplant, we are required to live in Miami for 3-6 months due to the rejection period window being that length of time. He’ll be have to be closely monitored and we need to be local. I’m posting this asking for any help that can be offered in order to help with the cost of housing. I’m currently working 2 jobs at the moment and I now have to make sure I stay current on rent in our apartment here while making sure we also have a safe place for Raymond to recover after surgery as they do not offer transplant housing. We’re so scared & are still trying to wrap our heads around the fact that this is our reality. My husband has been given an opportunity to have a second lease on life without Crohn’s disease. An opportunity I thank god for everyday. I appreciate any penny that is sent our way. I’m so grateful for the outpouring support we receive continuously. Please share to spread the word and again, thank you so much. God bless you all.