On Friday, February 5th, I received a call from my mom at 6.30 in the morning. My brother Josh, was at Strong Memorial Hospital and they didn't know what was wrong with him.
Throughout the day, I got as many updates as possible from my family. He hadn't been feeling well, and was sent home from work the day before. He was excessively perspiring, had a recurrent headache for a few weeks, and couldn't see well out of one of his eyes. He'd had fevers that went unresolved with Tylenol.
Thursday night, he had gotten up to go to the bathroom, and fell down the stairs. He hit his head at least twice, and according to his girlfriend, it looked like he had a seizure after falling. They called 911, when the EMT's arrived he had a fever of 105. They took him to the nearest hospital, which needed to transfer him to Strong, they weren't equipped to take care of him at the little hospital.
As the day went on, we found out his platelet levels were critically low (he was at 3,000 on arrival to Strong, and normal is between 150,000 and 400,000). On one of the calls with my mom, she said one of the doctors said he had abnormal cells in his blood. Someone had said something about leukemia when they were updating Josh. No one wants to hear that, ever.
Later in the day, they told us that his tentative diagnosis was acute promyelocytic leukemia, a rare, but treatable form of leukemia. Thankfully, his COVID test was negative.
He's currently at Strong, and will be there until at least the beginning of March. Mom started his paperwork with his employer, and we found out he was 3 days away from qualifying for FMLA. So, it's on to short term disability. He'll be able to receive a maximum of 60% of his gross pay, and that won't include the costs of his health insurance or taxes. His biggest concern right now is how he's going to pay for the ambulance ride, because that isn't covered by insurance, and how he's going to afford all of their bills.
If it weren't for Sam, his girlfriend, Josh wouldn't be with us today. Her kids, and the kids they have together, are coping as well as can be expected, but they're still kids.
I can't do much to help them from Washington, but I can do this. Any help to support my brother's medical expenses will be appreciated.
