Police Officer & Father Of 6 In Need

Father to 6 beautiful children and a City of Phoenix Police Officer, Jacob Lewis has recently undergone major spinal surgery. Jacob has selflessly served as a police officer for nearly 14 years, always helping those in need when he can. Jacob has received two medals of life saving, and a medal of merit and has spent money out of his own pocket to buy food for families in need, prepaid phones for victims of domestic violence and even helped a single mother get a working hot water heater for her and her children. Jacob has adopted multiple families during Christmas times and bought toys for many children throughout the years as he’s gone call to call at work and seen children going without. Jacob always goes out of his way to help any person he can, from monetary assistance to helping anyone stranded on the side of the road. Although Jacob is an amazing police officer and loves his job, he then comes home to 6 little ones that he raises as a single father. With his babies ranging from 18 months to 11 years old he makes time for the ones he holds dearest. Jacob loves nothing more than being a father to his children. For the last 8 years Jacob has had a large 18” cyst that ran along the inside of his spine from his chin to his belly button. The cyst started causing major medical problems throughout the years and over the last 6 months Jacob grew worse over time. His health started to decline as he started losing sensation from his hips down. The numbness would come and go but overall became worse and worse. He would have trouble walking or using the restroom. Jacob spent over a week in the hospital in November 2017 and another week in March 2018 after being the victim of a violent assault on duty which agitated his condition. Both hospital visits he was subjected to a battery of tests and monitored until the numbness would start to subside, but no matter how many neurologists and neurosurgeons Jacob had examine him, they all refused to do anything. They told him they weren’t sure how to fix him and any surgery was too risky and life threatening to be considered. Knowing he had all of these medical problems, Jacob continued to go to work with a positive attitude and a smile on his face ready to continue to serve the public but at home was becoming very discouraged with no medical answers. Finally, after exhausting all outlets we tried to go to one last hospital, Mayo Clinic. An advanced team of neurologists and neurosurgeons did yet another extensive examination and within 30 hours of being admitted told Jacob to ready himself for surgery. The surgery was risky, long, and intricate. Surgeons went through Jacobs neck to get to the front side of his spine to remove his C-5 vertebrae, locate several holes in his epidurum (which is what holds your spinal cord and spinal fluid) and patch up all the holes. Once all the holes were sealed they had to watch to make sure they would not continue to leak spinal fluid which is what was causing all the problems. After the doctors were sure the patches would hold, they replaced his vertebrae with cadaver bone and place a metal plate and 5 screws to hold the cadaver bone in place. Among fixing the holes the doctors were able to drain his entire cyst along his spine and are confident it’s unlikely to fill back up! They placed a drain in his neck for normal surgery drainage and a drain in his back so nurses could drain spinal fluid every hour until his body was used to the new volume of spinal fluid in his epidurum. When Jacob was in recovery after the surgery he had further complications with the drain in his back as it broke and caused him to leak lots of spinal fluid without stopping. Jacob almost had to go back into surgery, but thankfully they were able to repair it before it got to that. Jacob is beyond thankful that his back problems are on the road to recovery, but it’s a long recovery at that. The medical bills from the first two hospital visits have been slowly piling up and he is expecting many more after such an eventful hospital trip that involved a surgery. Jacob will be out of work for 3-4 weeks at minimum, and be on light duty for 6-8 months after that. Being a single father of 6 children he was already struggling to make ends meet prior to this severe surgery. For close to a year Jacob will not be able to pick up over time anymore when money gets extremely tight, during holiday seasons or his children’s birthday months. Jacob has given selflessly throughout the years to anyone in need and now he is the one in need. Any money donated to help Jacob will go to all of his accumulated medical expenses and any additional money will be put towards household bills to provide for his children in this time of his diminished work capacity. Anything you are able to donate is greatly appreciated and will make a difference to the lives of him and his children.From the bottom of our hearts, thank you!!