Mucormycosis: Help support Herman George's family

Thank you for being interested in our story. I, Zakeya and my mother Felisha, made this gofundme page not only for financial help, but also to bring awareness to this rare and fatal infection that my dad has. My dad’s name is Herman George and he has caught an infection called Mucormycosis.

Mucormycosis typically attacks people with very low/weak immune systems. My dad was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer prior, which already weakened his immune system. My dad also has diabetes, this is what initially landed him in the hospital.

A few days after being admitted, the right side of his face and eye started to swell. Doctors said he had got a sinus infection so they did a procedure to drain the fluid that caused it. The very next day his face swelled right back up. A yellow-toned sac started to form around that eye which was very concerning. His vision went from being able to see, to blurry, and then in just a couple of days he was completely blind in his right eye. Doctors said he has Mucormycosis and they needed to do surgery to remove all the infected areas. We didn’t know how extreme it was going to be or how much it had spread. My dad had to get his right eye, right side of his nose, right cheek, upper right side of his mouth (including teeth and gums) all extracted. Leaving the right side of his face permanently deformed and hollow. This is traumatizing and so sad. It don’t stop there.

Since this mucor, my dad had so many complications that followed: a trache being inserted into his throat to help protect his airway, needing support on ventilators, he aspirates, had several blood transfusions, seizures, strokes, uncontrollable shakes/spasms, fevers, pneumonia, a heart attack, and he coded once (his heart stopped), and the list goes on. This Mucor has now travelled to his brain and has started to shut his body down. Unfortunately the doctors don’t know what else to do and there is no cure. This infection is spreading so fast that the doctors say he will not survive this.

My mom has been by his side from day 1. She is his advocate especially because he can’t speak. She practically lives at the hospital. My mother is overly stressed, she doesn’t sleep or eat, she scared, and she’s losing her mind due to her being on high alert. She feels alone, lives in fear every day not knowing what to expect. She was right there when he coded and called it out before the doctors even noticed it. That in itself is traumatizing. On top of that her job is doing layoffs. Whenever my mother returns to her job, they are ready to hit her with a lay-off notice. When that happens she will not only lose her job, but all of her benefits such as her medical insurance which we need.

Since January she has been out of work with no pay to help him. We are doing the best we can. I even picked up another job to help. It’s scary for me. I am extremely worried. I feel helpless because I am not able to keep up with the all the bills by myself and I am not able be with them physically to support them like I need to be.

We still need help to be able to continue paying for things like hospital bills, rent, phone bills, household bills, car notes, food, gas, everything just to keep our heads above water and to relieve some of the stress that were facing every day by ourselves. We don’t know how else to ask for help. Just pray for us please.

We don’t want any of you to experience anything of what my dad has. He is such a strong and amazing man, brother, child of God, husband, father, grandfather, and more. My dad needs a whole team rallying behind him. We need to spread the word because this has taken us by surprise and we have no answers for anything. More people need to know about this. With bringing awareness we hope it’ll lead to more research/tests to create a cure that can save lives.

For those who want to donate other ways we also have cashapp: ($keyaruck), Venmo: (@Zakeya-Rucker), and Paypal: (@ZakeyaR)

We thank you all may God continue to Bless you.