Help John Stay Alive: Surgery Costs Money
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My name is John Royal Belliston. For years people have called me "Tiny" cause to be frank, I'm not. I'm a former full time aid for children with severe behavioral problems and an aspiring writer. And for the last several years I have been something else.
I've been sick.
A few years ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This thankfully happened when I just got a full time job and was insured. After that I (through high triglycerides and other factors) developed chronic pancreatitis.
For years I've been in and out of the hospital trying to cope and prevent the horrific pain of pancreatitis. Through lifestyle changes I was down to one every 6 to 9 months or so.
At this time the stress of my job became unbearable and the teacher I worked with (frankly one of the most wonderful humans I've yet met) left for greener pastures. Unable to continue in that job without her support I became unemployed.
It was around this time that my medical team and I learned of several large nasty clots in my portal vein system that were a cause of near constant intestinal issues. We treated them, and moved on.
This was when I had my first GI bleed.
Now, there was a sort of Rube Goldbergian reaction happening in my body. The pancreatitis created (or contributed) to the clots. The clots put additional pressures on all the small veins and have created varicose veins (varices) in my esophagus.
My varices in particular have a tendency to burst quite often. For about the last year or so I've been having endoscopy after endoscopy to try and band up those little veins. I've had around five or so I think (if I don't count the ones in the emergency rooms).
But here's where the start of the (most current) problem is. My esophagus, because of all the banding, heavily scarred. These scars mean that there are fewer and fewer places to band should the next bleed occur. And well... if they run out of places to band my likely hood of slowly bleeding to death goes up exponentially.
What the plan is now, is to find means of alleviating that pressure, and preventing another blood infection. OH yeah... One of those.
So this leads us to why I'm coming to you, friends, family, and strangers.
*drumroll*
My spleen needs to be removed. There's a mysterious sack of fluid attached to it that about the size of another more powerful spleen. They suspect that it has infection in it, but can't really biopsy with popping it... so it's got to come out.
So on the 12th of this month I have a splenectomy planned. Before that I need to get several inoculations against the rare bacteria that the spleen protects us against.
They are expensive. And so is the down payment on my getting my insidey bits made into outsidey bits.
And that is why I'm going to you. Cause my resources of my immediate family have dwindled, and with the day to day symptoms of my illnesses I don't have much I can do.
So... I'm asking for help.
Cause... well. I don't want to die. I have stories to tell. I have children to teach.
And dying would kinda mess up my plans.
I've been sick.
A few years ago I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. This thankfully happened when I just got a full time job and was insured. After that I (through high triglycerides and other factors) developed chronic pancreatitis.
For years I've been in and out of the hospital trying to cope and prevent the horrific pain of pancreatitis. Through lifestyle changes I was down to one every 6 to 9 months or so.
At this time the stress of my job became unbearable and the teacher I worked with (frankly one of the most wonderful humans I've yet met) left for greener pastures. Unable to continue in that job without her support I became unemployed.
It was around this time that my medical team and I learned of several large nasty clots in my portal vein system that were a cause of near constant intestinal issues. We treated them, and moved on.
This was when I had my first GI bleed.
Now, there was a sort of Rube Goldbergian reaction happening in my body. The pancreatitis created (or contributed) to the clots. The clots put additional pressures on all the small veins and have created varicose veins (varices) in my esophagus.
My varices in particular have a tendency to burst quite often. For about the last year or so I've been having endoscopy after endoscopy to try and band up those little veins. I've had around five or so I think (if I don't count the ones in the emergency rooms).
But here's where the start of the (most current) problem is. My esophagus, because of all the banding, heavily scarred. These scars mean that there are fewer and fewer places to band should the next bleed occur. And well... if they run out of places to band my likely hood of slowly bleeding to death goes up exponentially.
What the plan is now, is to find means of alleviating that pressure, and preventing another blood infection. OH yeah... One of those.
So this leads us to why I'm coming to you, friends, family, and strangers.
*drumroll*
My spleen needs to be removed. There's a mysterious sack of fluid attached to it that about the size of another more powerful spleen. They suspect that it has infection in it, but can't really biopsy with popping it... so it's got to come out.
So on the 12th of this month I have a splenectomy planned. Before that I need to get several inoculations against the rare bacteria that the spleen protects us against.
They are expensive. And so is the down payment on my getting my insidey bits made into outsidey bits.
And that is why I'm going to you. Cause my resources of my immediate family have dwindled, and with the day to day symptoms of my illnesses I don't have much I can do.
So... I'm asking for help.
Cause... well. I don't want to die. I have stories to tell. I have children to teach.
And dying would kinda mess up my plans.
Organizer
John Belliston
Organizer
Magna, UT