Help Us kick Crohn’s @ss
Donation protected
I honestly never thought I’d be starting a gofundme, but my family needs help and I’m not sure what else to do, so here we go.
As some of you know, my amazing partner Jim suffers from a chronic illness known as Crohn’s disease. For those of you who are not familiar with Crohn’s, it’s a horrible condition that attacks a person’s digestive tract, often to the point of complete destruction. Jim was diagnosed when he was 12 years old.
Jim is an amazing person, with more love for others than anyone I’ve ever met. He is always the first to offer others help, despite his own challenges. He is the father to 7 beautiful human beings (5 of which still live with us), and has always put our kids first. I’ve watched him sacrifice his own health many times to ensure his kids are taken care of, have everything they need, and mostly importantly, know they are loved.
We’ve had our ups and downs fighting this illness over the years. Jim has been on almost all possible medications at this point, and has also undergone surgery, during which they removed over a foot of intestinal tract.
Over the past year, he has failed all medications he has tried and his symptoms have dramatically increased to the point of not being able to live anything even remotely close to a normal life.
Currently, he is too ill to work a steady job. We opened our own small business earlier this year, with the hopes of it giving Jim the flexibility he needs with employment, due to his illness. However, we are not yet turning a profit. On top of this, we’ve had to close down a lot due to Jim’s condition. I work as an ESL teacher, which provides enough income to cover our very basic costs of living. I cannot cover at the business on a regular basis, because I need to bring in what I can from my teaching job to pay the bills.
Our medical and travel costs are now overwhelming us. Each time something goes wrong, we must drive down to Vancouver to have Jim seen by specialists. Often Jim needs an escort for these visits due to testing. This means I have to take time off work to go with him. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid, further contributing to our financial hardship.
There is one more medication we can try before the final option of a colectomy (removal of colon), but it is expensive. While I am doing everything I can to maximize our budget, we are definitely feeling the effects. I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible for our kids, but the overall strain on our household is impacting all of us.
Those of you who know me know that I am not one to ask for help unless absolutely necessary. I’ve always prided myself on working hard, taking care of my family, and solving my own problems. However, I’ve realized that I’m working at maximum capacity now and it’s simply not enough. Jim needs to take time now to rest and heal (he is currently on heavy duty antibiotics for an infection and also suffering from a blood clot in his arm that is being closely monitored). This means I will need to be responsible for all aspects of our family, day-to-day life, and financial needs. And I can’t do it all.
If you are able to help us in any way, that’s great! If you can’t, no worries at all, but please take a second and share this with your friends.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope all is well in your life.
Cheers,
Kaylin
As some of you know, my amazing partner Jim suffers from a chronic illness known as Crohn’s disease. For those of you who are not familiar with Crohn’s, it’s a horrible condition that attacks a person’s digestive tract, often to the point of complete destruction. Jim was diagnosed when he was 12 years old.
Jim is an amazing person, with more love for others than anyone I’ve ever met. He is always the first to offer others help, despite his own challenges. He is the father to 7 beautiful human beings (5 of which still live with us), and has always put our kids first. I’ve watched him sacrifice his own health many times to ensure his kids are taken care of, have everything they need, and mostly importantly, know they are loved.
We’ve had our ups and downs fighting this illness over the years. Jim has been on almost all possible medications at this point, and has also undergone surgery, during which they removed over a foot of intestinal tract.
Over the past year, he has failed all medications he has tried and his symptoms have dramatically increased to the point of not being able to live anything even remotely close to a normal life.
Currently, he is too ill to work a steady job. We opened our own small business earlier this year, with the hopes of it giving Jim the flexibility he needs with employment, due to his illness. However, we are not yet turning a profit. On top of this, we’ve had to close down a lot due to Jim’s condition. I work as an ESL teacher, which provides enough income to cover our very basic costs of living. I cannot cover at the business on a regular basis, because I need to bring in what I can from my teaching job to pay the bills.
Our medical and travel costs are now overwhelming us. Each time something goes wrong, we must drive down to Vancouver to have Jim seen by specialists. Often Jim needs an escort for these visits due to testing. This means I have to take time off work to go with him. If I don’t work, I don’t get paid, further contributing to our financial hardship.
There is one more medication we can try before the final option of a colectomy (removal of colon), but it is expensive. While I am doing everything I can to maximize our budget, we are definitely feeling the effects. I’m trying to keep things as normal as possible for our kids, but the overall strain on our household is impacting all of us.
Those of you who know me know that I am not one to ask for help unless absolutely necessary. I’ve always prided myself on working hard, taking care of my family, and solving my own problems. However, I’ve realized that I’m working at maximum capacity now and it’s simply not enough. Jim needs to take time now to rest and heal (he is currently on heavy duty antibiotics for an infection and also suffering from a blood clot in his arm that is being closely monitored). This means I will need to be responsible for all aspects of our family, day-to-day life, and financial needs. And I can’t do it all.
If you are able to help us in any way, that’s great! If you can’t, no worries at all, but please take a second and share this with your friends.
Thanks for taking the time to read this and I hope all is well in your life.
Cheers,
Kaylin
Organizer
Kaylin Foisy
Organizer
Powell River, BC
