Hi, Our names are Archie and Pam Johns. We are raising funding to pay for advanced medical treatment for Archie's stroke recovery that is not covered by insurance.

On 7 Aug 2023, Archie had a major hemorrhagic stroke on the left side of his brain. Initially he was totally paralyzed and could not speak. On the third day in ICU he was able to move his left side some and was trying to speak. Now 2 1/2 months later, and a lot of rehab later, he has regained total movement on the left side. The right side has a lot of issues. He can walk but slowly, he can talk but slowly, swallowing is still an issues, his right arm and hand have had a little movement but have a long way to go. His mental capacity is there but he has trouble finding the words. He is in a brain fog. He has lost his sense of taste and everything on the right side of his body is numb. He is suffering from spasticity and post stroke cerebral pain. So he has a lot of pain that pain meds cannot treat.

Now for the good news. Archie has been working hard in rehab and has made major improvement. But, stroke rehab normally takes years and does not releave the pains. Also, the out of pocket expenses for co pays for physical therapy, speech therapy, acupuncture and Dr appts is costing around $500 per week.

There is a revolutionary treatment for stroke victims. It works almost immediately with the pain mostly gone, sense of taste returns, feeling returns to the effected side, spasticity, brain fog and fatigue are gone. Once the feeling returns then speech and swallowing improve. Basicly he will get his quality of life back.

This treatment is called Perispinal Etanercept. Basicly what causes the brain to be slow to heal is the body's inflamatory response to the stroke. This treatment injects Etanercept(Embral) into the spinal fluid to allow it to cross the blood brain barrier thus delivering the anti-inflammatory meds directly where need. It turns off the body's inflamatory mechanism in the brain. We know it sound very experimental but it is not. Embryal was FDA approved for human use in 1998 for arthritis and other conditions but not stroke recovery. Dr. Tobinick has been doing the perispinal proccedure since 2005 and has treated over 5000 patients.

Archie has been approved for this treatment. Dr. Tobinick feels he is an excellent candidate for this treatment. He recommends a series of 4 treatments. The only draw back is that since it has not been FDA approved insurance does not cover the costs. Each treatment costs $9,000. For a total out of pocket cost of $36,000. Archie is scheduled for his first treatment on 20 Dec and the second treatment on 27 Dec. The other 2 treatments will be scheduled after the first 2.

We have added a link to information about the perispinal Etanercept treatment for those who want to know more. Institute of Neurological Recovery.