Help Joe Stay Alive!
HELP ME HELP MY BEST FRIEND FIGHT CANCER!
Joe is one of those guys who is always helping everyone else out. Hopefully in your world you've had the good fortune to know at least one of those "type" of people because lately they seem to be a very rare find. If you have been lucky enough to have one as a friend then you know that these type of people are too prideful to ask for help when THEY need help. So I am asking for him! Don't laugh at the suit - I helped him buy it at Goodwill!
Joe was getting ready for work and was trying not to look at the flash. He had no idea why I wanted to take this picture.
Joe is a 37 year old LPN and he has been a practicing nurse for about 5 years. After his mother passed away he went back to nursing school and finished clinical studies at age 31. As a caregiver in a nursing home I find he is frequently admired by his patients for being such a caring nurse. Again, that would also be typical behavior for his "type" of person.
To give you another example of the kind of person Joe is last winter when it started to get below freezing Joe decided the neighborhood stray cats were outside freezing to death. So he went to Lowes and bought some plywood and 2 x 4's and built a "Cat House". This thing is 5 ft tall and 5ft wide and 5ft deep. The inside was lined with multi-layered straw surrounding a plastic dog house! Here is a picture of it:
I ask you how many of your friends have built a "cat house"? Of course, as any smart Cat would have it, everyone who showed up to live in the cat house got fed and eventually adopted by him or someone else. 
This is Cal. Cal got sink from drinking anti-freeze. Joe saw to it she was seen by a vet. She recovered! 
This is Cal with Abby getting ready to prounce on her. 
This is Abby. She was a kitten of maybe 8 weeks when she showed up. Joe wound up keeping her. For 2 months she refused to pose for a pic and she refused to let anyone else near her other than Joe except me. 
This is cheddars. Cheddars got dropped off at the local gas station in the NEXT TOWN OVER. Joe brought her home to live in the cat house and then found a home for her and her babies ... because "some cruel people just left her at the gas station". She was apparently there a couple of weeks before Joe decided to rescue her.
The irony of this cat house story is that Joe would be the first to admit he is not even a "cat person!" He would much prefer birds or fish or a dog instead. I asked him since he is not really a cat person why was was making such a monstrosity out of a cat shelter his reply was "Who wants to go hungry and freeze to death in 20 below weather?" That thing had better insulation than most people's houses!
That is a classic example of the one of the many "Joe projects" I could give to anyone reading this to showcase his character and show the kind person that Joe truly is. A "Joe project" (that's what I call them) is one of the many things he endeavors upon that enure to no benefit of his own because having something be to his benefit is not a requirement on the checklist of a "Joe project".
Unfortunately in this world bad things happen to good people. Joe was diagnosed with Thyroid cancer last week. He thinks he has had it for a while and they are not able to tell if it has metastasized and said they won't be able to tell until it is removed. As if to state the obvious - cancer is an evil ugly thing! With it comes many problems and many things that people have to do that require money they don't have. I mean who financially plans to fight cancer?
Joe needs medical treatments and needs income to sustain him through this difficult time. He needs funds for many things but the main concerns are food, shelter, utilities, insurance premium payments and co-insurance payments for medicine and medical treatments. We live in Ohio and the fact is "Winter Is Coming!"
You never have to Joe if he's cold.
He has been informed by his employer when he begins treatment he will loose his job. When he looses his job he will not only loose his income but he will also loose his insurance and will have to pay the premiums himself out of pocket. My personal belief is that it could be a disaster in and of itself to have to switch insurance in the middle of treating something like cancer. <UPDATE: 8/31/15> Joe found out he does qualify for FMLA however Ohio is an "At-Will" state and termination can be made for any reason. This means they may have to pay him unemployement. This would be a big help when (and if) he can find a doctor.<END UPDATE>
He's been told he could be out of work for between 12 -16 weeks - depending on recovery - and maybe longer if there are any complications.
The problem is there are already complications! In addition to having to fight cancer Joe has a condition known as "Bradycardia ". This places fear in the minds of anesthesiologists that would assist in surgery and one doctor has already flatly refused to do Joe's surgery because of it. This adds to the already very emotionally charged high stress level. Can you imagine? You have this thing inside of you that's killing you and it needs taken out and the doctor is so afraid of trying he refuses?
This is just one of the many battles Joe has to face on the road ahead - so I ask of you -PLEASE JOIN TEAM JOE AND HELP ME HELP JOE FIGHT CANCER! Let us battle some of these expenses for him so that he doesn't have to worry about being denied treatment for lack of a co-pay or worry about the expenses of every day living and can instead have the mental freedom to focus on the battle for healing and life.
** THE NUMBERS **
Since LPN's don't make nearly as much as RN's Joe is like the most of us who live paycheck to paycheck. Being a professional for only a few years he has no 401K or retirement fund to fall back on. I have estimated expenses for 5-6 months as follows: Rent/utilities/food and bill payments $9000, 6 months insurance premiums: $3600, Estimated Copays - $6000, Travel & Clinical: 4500. At the moment Joe is still working as he enjoys his job and I imagine he will work for as along as he physically can but treatments need to start right away and he needs funds for medicine he can start on while searching for a doctor willing to do the surgery.
A special THANK YOU to our home town community for taking a look!
If you found our gofundme page from from one of the printed fliers I had made locally and you are not comfortable using an online service to process a donation you are welcome to send your check or money order to:
Joe Carver Cancer Benefit Fund
C/O Richland Bank
3 Main Street
Mansfield, Ohio 44902
or drop it off at any Richland Bank or Mechanics Bank location in town.