No Surrender - Support Sean’s Fight
Donation protected
Please help raise funds to purchase and install life saving medical equipment so that Sean can continue his fight against ALS. Inspired by his love for his wife and son, he lives with hope - hope that a cure could be just around the corner if he can push through one more day, one more month, one more year.
After surviving cardiac arrest and a three month stay in critical care, he is now on full life support. He requires 24 hour suction equipment in order to be able to return home - an approximate $16,000 out of pocket expense.
Please support his fight against this brutal and cruel disease.
You can read more about his fight in his own words from his Facebook page. (Also see link; he would love to hear your words of support)
Thanks all - No Surrender
“Hi My name is Sean Tagert. I'm a 39 Year old Husband and father with advanced ALS. Wheelchair bound, feeding tube and recently got a tracheostomy and ventilation. This post is just to raise a little awareness about the situation in British Columbia. The situation is that ALS patients are being abandoned in BC.
How are they being abandoned? A little over two months ago I went to sleep in my home in Powell River, several days later I woke up in Lions Gate Hospital in Vancouver with a hole in my neck and a machine doing my breathing for me. I learned that I had gone into respiratory distress during my sleep, then gone into cardiac arrest in the ER, flatlining twice and then being airlifted to Vancouver where they performed the tracheostomy.
I was glad to be alive. Within a few days though my saliva became relentless, an unending flow constantly threatening to fill my lungs. The doctors tried everything they could think of, nothing worked. The only way to handle it was 24/7 oral Suction. For years I've worried about the burden that caregiving put on my family, and now faced with unending suction, I decided it was time to look into long term care facilities.
This is where things get messed up. There is literally no where in BC for me to go but home. I had always been told that when the time came, I could go to the George Pearson center in Vancouver. Except after one phone call we found out that they didn't have continuos suction, only the portable machines which can only run two hours at a time. How did they deal with saliva control? They stuff cotton into people's mouths. I repeat, they stuff cotton into people's mouths. I immediately had visions of civil war medic tent, soldiers dying, bonesaws, etc.... Wasn't it 2018? Turns out it didn't matter anyways, the Pearson center was being torn down to build condos.
So where were the Pearson patients going? turns out Lions Gate started a long term care facility right next to the hospital called evergreen, even better they had continuous suction just like the hospitals. We asked if I could go there and were given Multiple reasons why I couldn't go there.... Not enough staff, not equipped, etc.,, so apparently it was a long term care facilty for people who weren't too sick. Then we were told about the Maple house downtown. They immediately declined my request saying that they had only a few beds and a waiting list over a year long.
what about home sweet home? Spacious and modern, the Powell River hospital surely would be the best solution with family only moments away.... Sorry only one part time Respiratory Therapist on staff, they don't even accept vented patients except on an emergency basis, and even then they just airlift them to Vancouver immediately.
So here I am, not one single option in Vancouver, and living in a town that will simply ship me back to Vancouver if i have problems. ??? . At this point we have purchased an industrial dental suction machine and are currently installing in my house, which has undeniably began looking like an ICU. We simply cannot understand why in 2018 there is such a lack of facilities for people with ALS. I am fortunate enough to have an extremely supportive family and a broad support network, but what of the less fortunate, elderly ALS patients without the support, stuck in a waking nightmare with cotton being shoved in their mouths? Shame on the BC government and Shame on the Facilities management. Time for change. ALS has been around for over a hundred years. No excuses. Time for BC to have a proper long term care facility for people with ALS.”
https://www.facebook.com/sean.tagert.5/posts/1540129122691644

After surviving cardiac arrest and a three month stay in critical care, he is now on full life support. He requires 24 hour suction equipment in order to be able to return home - an approximate $16,000 out of pocket expense.
Please support his fight against this brutal and cruel disease.
You can read more about his fight in his own words from his Facebook page. (Also see link; he would love to hear your words of support)
Thanks all - No Surrender
“Hi My name is Sean Tagert. I'm a 39 Year old Husband and father with advanced ALS. Wheelchair bound, feeding tube and recently got a tracheostomy and ventilation. This post is just to raise a little awareness about the situation in British Columbia. The situation is that ALS patients are being abandoned in BC.
How are they being abandoned? A little over two months ago I went to sleep in my home in Powell River, several days later I woke up in Lions Gate Hospital in Vancouver with a hole in my neck and a machine doing my breathing for me. I learned that I had gone into respiratory distress during my sleep, then gone into cardiac arrest in the ER, flatlining twice and then being airlifted to Vancouver where they performed the tracheostomy.
I was glad to be alive. Within a few days though my saliva became relentless, an unending flow constantly threatening to fill my lungs. The doctors tried everything they could think of, nothing worked. The only way to handle it was 24/7 oral Suction. For years I've worried about the burden that caregiving put on my family, and now faced with unending suction, I decided it was time to look into long term care facilities.
This is where things get messed up. There is literally no where in BC for me to go but home. I had always been told that when the time came, I could go to the George Pearson center in Vancouver. Except after one phone call we found out that they didn't have continuos suction, only the portable machines which can only run two hours at a time. How did they deal with saliva control? They stuff cotton into people's mouths. I repeat, they stuff cotton into people's mouths. I immediately had visions of civil war medic tent, soldiers dying, bonesaws, etc.... Wasn't it 2018? Turns out it didn't matter anyways, the Pearson center was being torn down to build condos.
So where were the Pearson patients going? turns out Lions Gate started a long term care facility right next to the hospital called evergreen, even better they had continuous suction just like the hospitals. We asked if I could go there and were given Multiple reasons why I couldn't go there.... Not enough staff, not equipped, etc.,, so apparently it was a long term care facilty for people who weren't too sick. Then we were told about the Maple house downtown. They immediately declined my request saying that they had only a few beds and a waiting list over a year long.
what about home sweet home? Spacious and modern, the Powell River hospital surely would be the best solution with family only moments away.... Sorry only one part time Respiratory Therapist on staff, they don't even accept vented patients except on an emergency basis, and even then they just airlift them to Vancouver immediately.
So here I am, not one single option in Vancouver, and living in a town that will simply ship me back to Vancouver if i have problems. ??? . At this point we have purchased an industrial dental suction machine and are currently installing in my house, which has undeniably began looking like an ICU. We simply cannot understand why in 2018 there is such a lack of facilities for people with ALS. I am fortunate enough to have an extremely supportive family and a broad support network, but what of the less fortunate, elderly ALS patients without the support, stuck in a waking nightmare with cotton being shoved in their mouths? Shame on the BC government and Shame on the Facilities management. Time for change. ALS has been around for over a hundred years. No excuses. Time for BC to have a proper long term care facility for people with ALS.”
https://www.facebook.com/sean.tagert.5/posts/1540129122691644
Organizer and beneficiary
Erica Sunshine Tagert
Organizer
Abbotsford, BC
Sean Tagert
Beneficiary
