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Help Our Nephew - Justin Bates

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Never in a million years did my wife and I think we would set up a Go Fund Me account.  As we were praying for our nephew (Justin) and his family, we felt God put a burden on our hearts for their financial provision.  A Go Fund Me immediately came to mind. We all know how quickly medical cost and prescriptions add up.  I know their most recent procedure cost them $3,500 out of pocket.  As we take this leap of faith we pray that you will consider making a donation and sharing this story through your social media.  Justin and Tamara will probably not be happy we are doing this but we hope that through it they will be blessed beyond measure.  Below is a Facebook post from Tamara which will give you a brief background of his story.  

Tamara Jerbic Bates
March 16 at 9:17am ·  
Ten years ago we started a journey we never wanted to experience. Justin’s health took a horrible turn and 2008 marked the absolute worst year of our lives. For those who don’t know - Justin was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, spent months in the hospital, eventually lost his entire colon, had an ileostomy bag for three months, and ended up being a candidate for a reversal (where his surgeon constructed a j-pouch in place of his colon). A year later he was told he most likely had Crohn’s, not UC. While this past decade has been full of ups and downs, Justin has been such a trooper and managed the challenges amazingly well. I have never met someone so brave, strong and stubborn. Oh my goodness, that man is stubborn!

I truly thought the worst was behind us regarding Justin’s health. Here we are 10 years later asking you once again to keep him in your thoughts and prayers as he faces another rough patch. The past few months have been really hard. Yesterday we met with his GI doctor and his surgeon. The day left us exhausted - mentally, physically and emotionally. Today we are both doing better though. He had blood work done and will have a pelvic CT scan this morning. Next week he has a procedure scheduled on Wednesday with his surgeon and after that we will most likely be gearing up for a big surgery (going back to the ileostomy bag, permanently this time). Not what we wanted but unfortunately this seems to be the only option. Plenty of people live just fine with a permanent ileostomy, and we are desperately praying Justin gets to be part of the “better” statistics this time. I will share more later, but for now just want to ask you to keep our favorite guy in your prayers. We are specifically praying 1. that the big surgery happens as soon as possible 2. that the medication they prescribed helps while he waits (nothing has helped at this point-he is going on year 3 of battling the same infection) 3. that his pain subsides and 4. his quality of life improves post surgery. He is so tired of fighting. We are heartbroken watching him suffer. Nobody should have to live like this.

Many have asked how to help or what we needed. We need your prayers. That’s all. I would lie if I didn’t share that anger, frustration, and fear have completely overwhelmed me lately. When we started this journey ten years ago I had no idea what to expect. I was hopeful and optimistic that there would be something that would improve his life. There have been plenty of days when I was on the verge of completely losing hope, but God kept picking us back up. For that I am beyond thankful. I am clinging to Isaiah 43:2 as He will continue to carry us once again through these trials.

Thank you for loving, supporting and praying for our family.  ❤️ We had a huge tribe of prayer warriors 10 years ago, and we are blessed to say that our tribe has only grown. Thank you for speaking life, truth and encouragement into us (as well as making it through this post ).
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Donations 

  • Mike & Carol Goldin
    • $100 
    • 6 yrs
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Fundraising team (2)

Cary Barnett
Organizer
Raised $8,855 from 17 donations
Keller, TX
April Bates
Team member
This team raised $6,278 from 15 other donations.

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