Joe's New Start
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My name is Julie Foulds. I am Joe Mitchell's mother-in law. My son Joseph Foulds and I are starting this page to help a beautiful family in need. Our hopes are that Joe can now focus on healing and starting his new career so that he can support his family, which is so very important to him.
I think that Joe's mom, Lisa can tell his story best.
My name is Lisa Murphy and my son’s name is Joseph Mitchell. This is a small summary of his story. He is 32 years old and was born with a heart condition called Epstein Anomaly. While I was in the hospital, after giving birth, I was told to say good bye to my less than 24 hour old baby. Well, that would be the first of many times, as it was thought, he may not make it. For almost the first year of his life we lived in the Floating hospital in Boston. Since birth, Joe has always been a strong fighter and continues that today. At 6 month’s he had open heart surgery. We thought we were all set. At nine month’s he had a Fundoplication for severe reflux disease and his first of 9 set of tubes to help prevent reoccurring ear infections. He went on over the years having ekg’s and echocardiograms, stress tests, to monitor his heart. When he was 10, he woke me one night and as he was trying to tell me he did not feel well, he lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital again, and was diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome, Bradycardia, which is very low heart rate. We were told he may possibly need a pace maker by the time he is 20 years old. Twice a year we kept up on his cardiac appointments and he would wear a “holter monitor” for 24 hours twice a year to monitor a complete day of his heart functions. He did that all through school and a couple years after that without change. It seemed he was going to just have a low heart rate, but things were looking good. Well a few years went by and he started having heart palpitations, was very fatigue and lightheaded, and once again we were in the hospital, come to find out he had lost more than half his blood in his body and we did not know why, and doctors could not understand how he was even conscious, let along walking, and through tests upon test found out he had a slow bleed in his stomach somewhere. He had two surgeries on his intestines to find out where the bleed was coming from to no avail. Doctors came to the conclusion that he had stomach ulcers, and also a large hiatal hernia. They never did find the bleed. They left it at that. Joe continued into his adult life, and moved on through all this and more. When he got past the age of 21 we thought this is great, he does not need a pace maker and his heart is doing fine. We were wrong. At 27, Joe landed in the hospital for dizziness and extreme tiredness. He was given testing on his heart again, and was told he needed a pacemaker immediately, he had severe bradycardia and sleep apnea. Surgery was scheduled a little before his one year wedding anniversary. Less than a week later, he was back in the hospital, because the leads to this pacemaker broke and detached. He had his second pacemaker put in. It has been almost 5 years now. He has a wife, Meaghan, and two beautiful little children, my grandchildren. His daughter’s name is Isla May and she will be three years old in March. His sons name is Zachary John, and he just turned 17 months old. His life was going on. He is a hard worker, a good husband and a great father. He puts everyone else first, before himself, at times even before his own health. Everything was going along okay, or as well as could be expected, but the last few months Joe began having shortness of breath and was always tired, and light headed and dizzy. But Joe, being Joe, pushed along, fought through his pain and sickness per usual. On February 1, He was working out in the gym where he lives and as he was on the treadmill, he collapsed, passed out. Short period of time later he woke up, managed to get himself to his place and told his wife Meaghan what had happened. He made his cardiac appointment for the following week, actually, the 14th of February, to be checked out. As usual, he got up the next day, feeling really lousy, but off to work he went. He never made it to his cardiac appointment because Saturday before that, he and his family where driving to a wedding, and Joe all of a sudden told his wife he was going to pass out. Meaghan drove him to the hospital and he has been there since. He was told his pacemaker picked up two recordings of A-fib, and then one recording, the one which he passed out, a flat line, beats skipped, Cardiac arrest. Complete cardiac failure. He was diagnosed with Ventricular tachycardia and put on beta blockers and is scheduled for a defibrillator to be put into him in place of the pacemaker he currently has now. He was told he could not drive for at least 6 months, and could never drive a truck again, by the way He is a truck driver for a Fedex/contractor. In that instant, his life, his family’s life is completely changed. He was told he is lucky he is alive. But now, he has to be out of work for at least six months.. He must make a complete career change, if and when he can go back to work. This is going to be a complete financial strain on Joe and his family. Meaghan works full time and the kids are in day care. Joe, typically carried the larger of the paychecks. Now in an instant, it is gone. They are not asking, I am, his in-laws are, his family needs your help. While Joe is out, he will possibly have another surgery to remove a large hernia under the center of his chest, and that in itself is also a long recovery period. Joe never asks for help and does not want to, he feels he should be able to do everything for himself, and always has from the beginning, but I am not Joe, I am his Mother, and as a mom, you do whatever you can for your child, no matter the child’s age. I have been there for 32 years making sure he pulls through, and never gives up, and I will be here always to fight for my son and his family. I don’t asked for much of anything myself, but I am now. Thank you in advance for any type of help you can give. Thank you.
A Mother’s Love never quits. It is endless.
Update: He underwent a procedure on 2/15/2017 and they replaced his pacemaker with a defibrillator. He is doing well. They will see what he does through the night, and hopefully come home as soon as tomorrow.
I think that Joe's mom, Lisa can tell his story best.
My name is Lisa Murphy and my son’s name is Joseph Mitchell. This is a small summary of his story. He is 32 years old and was born with a heart condition called Epstein Anomaly. While I was in the hospital, after giving birth, I was told to say good bye to my less than 24 hour old baby. Well, that would be the first of many times, as it was thought, he may not make it. For almost the first year of his life we lived in the Floating hospital in Boston. Since birth, Joe has always been a strong fighter and continues that today. At 6 month’s he had open heart surgery. We thought we were all set. At nine month’s he had a Fundoplication for severe reflux disease and his first of 9 set of tubes to help prevent reoccurring ear infections. He went on over the years having ekg’s and echocardiograms, stress tests, to monitor his heart. When he was 10, he woke me one night and as he was trying to tell me he did not feel well, he lost consciousness. He was taken to the hospital again, and was diagnosed with sick sinus syndrome, Bradycardia, which is very low heart rate. We were told he may possibly need a pace maker by the time he is 20 years old. Twice a year we kept up on his cardiac appointments and he would wear a “holter monitor” for 24 hours twice a year to monitor a complete day of his heart functions. He did that all through school and a couple years after that without change. It seemed he was going to just have a low heart rate, but things were looking good. Well a few years went by and he started having heart palpitations, was very fatigue and lightheaded, and once again we were in the hospital, come to find out he had lost more than half his blood in his body and we did not know why, and doctors could not understand how he was even conscious, let along walking, and through tests upon test found out he had a slow bleed in his stomach somewhere. He had two surgeries on his intestines to find out where the bleed was coming from to no avail. Doctors came to the conclusion that he had stomach ulcers, and also a large hiatal hernia. They never did find the bleed. They left it at that. Joe continued into his adult life, and moved on through all this and more. When he got past the age of 21 we thought this is great, he does not need a pace maker and his heart is doing fine. We were wrong. At 27, Joe landed in the hospital for dizziness and extreme tiredness. He was given testing on his heart again, and was told he needed a pacemaker immediately, he had severe bradycardia and sleep apnea. Surgery was scheduled a little before his one year wedding anniversary. Less than a week later, he was back in the hospital, because the leads to this pacemaker broke and detached. He had his second pacemaker put in. It has been almost 5 years now. He has a wife, Meaghan, and two beautiful little children, my grandchildren. His daughter’s name is Isla May and she will be three years old in March. His sons name is Zachary John, and he just turned 17 months old. His life was going on. He is a hard worker, a good husband and a great father. He puts everyone else first, before himself, at times even before his own health. Everything was going along okay, or as well as could be expected, but the last few months Joe began having shortness of breath and was always tired, and light headed and dizzy. But Joe, being Joe, pushed along, fought through his pain and sickness per usual. On February 1, He was working out in the gym where he lives and as he was on the treadmill, he collapsed, passed out. Short period of time later he woke up, managed to get himself to his place and told his wife Meaghan what had happened. He made his cardiac appointment for the following week, actually, the 14th of February, to be checked out. As usual, he got up the next day, feeling really lousy, but off to work he went. He never made it to his cardiac appointment because Saturday before that, he and his family where driving to a wedding, and Joe all of a sudden told his wife he was going to pass out. Meaghan drove him to the hospital and he has been there since. He was told his pacemaker picked up two recordings of A-fib, and then one recording, the one which he passed out, a flat line, beats skipped, Cardiac arrest. Complete cardiac failure. He was diagnosed with Ventricular tachycardia and put on beta blockers and is scheduled for a defibrillator to be put into him in place of the pacemaker he currently has now. He was told he could not drive for at least 6 months, and could never drive a truck again, by the way He is a truck driver for a Fedex/contractor. In that instant, his life, his family’s life is completely changed. He was told he is lucky he is alive. But now, he has to be out of work for at least six months.. He must make a complete career change, if and when he can go back to work. This is going to be a complete financial strain on Joe and his family. Meaghan works full time and the kids are in day care. Joe, typically carried the larger of the paychecks. Now in an instant, it is gone. They are not asking, I am, his in-laws are, his family needs your help. While Joe is out, he will possibly have another surgery to remove a large hernia under the center of his chest, and that in itself is also a long recovery period. Joe never asks for help and does not want to, he feels he should be able to do everything for himself, and always has from the beginning, but I am not Joe, I am his Mother, and as a mom, you do whatever you can for your child, no matter the child’s age. I have been there for 32 years making sure he pulls through, and never gives up, and I will be here always to fight for my son and his family. I don’t asked for much of anything myself, but I am now. Thank you in advance for any type of help you can give. Thank you.
A Mother’s Love never quits. It is endless.
Update: He underwent a procedure on 2/15/2017 and they replaced his pacemaker with a defibrillator. He is doing well. They will see what he does through the night, and hopefully come home as soon as tomorrow.
Organizer and beneficiary
Julie Foulds
Organizer
Saugus, MA
Meaghan Mitchell
Beneficiary