Hi, thank you for taking the time to read about this life threatening disease and why our small family needs your help!

Joe has been living with epilepsy since around 18 years old. A lot of people do not know about his condition because well let's face it's, it's not a condition a lot of people are aware of and it's embarrassing. Joe went from working, driving, living life to its fullest. To being home bound, and unable to live a normal life.

Joe suffers from SEVERE LIFE THREATENING drug resistant epilepsy, he has seizure episodes almost every other day, not only that he has them in clusters! Meaning he has about 10 severe episodes a day, AM -PM. Imagine going through that!

Joe has been unable to work since 2020, that is when his epilepsy really took a turn for the worst. With multiple types of seizures (focal lobe and Grand Mal) he has activity coming from both sides of his brain. He has gone through multiple medications and nothing has helped, not even to reduce the frequency!! Plus the medications have a ton of side effects on top of the condition itself, and they do not work!

Many people who hear the term epilepsy just think it's seizures so it only affects you when you have an episode but epilepsy effects you all day, everyday. Without knowing when an episode will hit, and the severe after affects that lasts for days to weeks to recover from. Joes condition is so severe he doesn't really get a chance to recover from an episode because he has them so frequently! Which is life threatening, the body and brain is not made to handle this.

Many people don't know that epilepsy can be life threatening, and that the risk of premature death in people with epilepsy is up to three times higher than that of the general population. In fact, up to 1 in 1,000 people with epilepsy die suddenly each year from SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy). That is 50,000 people a year. This isn't just about improving his quality of life, it's about saving it.

Joe finally has a chance to live again, to become seizure free but we need help! With that comes major expenses. I am the sole provider of our family. We also have a 9 yr old son. I work full time and I have the only income coming in.

We finally found Joe a great neurologist at ECU health in Greenville, NC, who has set in motion for specialized testing to be done at Duke University Hospital in Durham, NC.

For Joe to have a chance to regain his life and stop living in fear, he needs to undergo specialized testing to proceed to have brain surgery done. These tests take weeks at a time and he has to have someone there with him through it full time (that is me). Then when he has the surgery he will be in need of full time care estimated at about 6 weeks to recover.

That being said, I'm the sole provider of our small family and I will have to take more unpaid time off.

Costs are already adding up, as you know bills do not stop, plus medical bills piling. Then costs of the brain procedure needed is outstanding! We do have insurance but it does not cover everything, especially the time needed for me to take off and care for Joe. We also would like to get a service animal for Joe, as they can be tremendously helpful in this situation. So we are asking for your help!

Please if you would like to help save a life and help with Joes recovery and journey to become seizure free, we ask please share, post, spread his story! Any amount will help, if everyone who comes across this donated just $1 it would help us tremendously!

Please help us, please help Joe and save a life!

Thank you

Sincerely

Taylor, Joe and Chase