Joesph’s Gene Sequence Surgery

His Story: Joe was a medic in the Ohio Army National Guard for 8 years. While going to school to become a doctor, he worked as a emt/firefighter. He took a break from school and became Ohio’s youngest paramedic EVER. Then he became a critical care and flight paramedic for planes, jets, and helicopters. He loved helping others. He said, “In medicine sometimes you can perform, what seems like magic.” He was following in his father’s footsteps by becoming an army veteran and retired Fire Chief. Illness: Toll-like Receptor & Mannose Binding Lectin Deficiency This means that his immune system fails to detect and fight the most common staph and strep bacteria, which keeps putting him back into the hospital time after time again. His Near-Death Experiences: In 2006 he got a splinter in his right bicep. That small cut introduced a strep bacteria. It ended up mutating, and was immune to all antibiotic treatments. They were able to grow the mutation and make an antibiotic, but not before it had eaten his entire top half of his right arm. It was a very slow process, and you could still see the bone for months while scar tissue grew in its place. In 2010 he got extremely sick again with one of those unique flesh eating bacteria. This time it ate his right calf but there was no cut, no entrance for it to have gotten in. After near death and 3 months in the ICU, the doctors used newly invented lab tests that did not exist a year prior and he discovered this illness, that if it was 1% more deficient he would have not been born. A baby girl with the same rate primary immune disorder, lived to 11 months, so Joe is the only survivor we know of at this point, living with a disease that (he hopes) they’ll name after him. Why we Need Your Help: Recently he has been hospitalized again, due to this illness. The doctors told him they may be able to find a cure if they can do gene testing with his DNA and identify the corrupted genes. This test would allow them to identify the bad genes and cut them out, allowing the gene code to replace the missing genes with correct ones. This would be a permanent cure! Finding the genes means HOPE. Right now there is no possible cure , and Joe has been on/off hospice. It also means giving the disease a name, which would help Joe get disability approved. Without it, he is going to court with a disability trying to explain how he gets febrile seizures (from high temperatures) because the infections can ramp up so fast. The downside is the test cost $50,000, and the VA and his insurance will not cover any of the costs. He has two children who have already lost their mother and still need their father, and this may be our only chance to help. If he we were to pass, he’d be leaving not only his children, but also all of the people he’s effected in his life. Any donations toward this cause will help reach our goal of $55,000 to cover the test, and the rest of his hospital bills. Thank you! ❤️