Richard's Recovery: Family Needs Your Aid

Richard Enoch Jones, a Portland artist, DJ and filmmaker has lived the last 14 years an amputee. As they initially tried to save his leg, he had undergone many surgeries but to no avail, his leg ultimately needed to be amputated. What was left of his leg was not an ideal fit for traditional prostheses causing more pain than usual, ongoing fittings and even more “revisions” to remove bone spurs and nerve clusters that caused further pain. For this reason, he was the perfect candidate for Osseointegration, a procedure that was just recently approved by the FDA in the US but has been wildly successful in Europe. The procedure installs a metal implant into the bone similar to a dental implant and connects directly to the leg. This creates more stability, a more natural gait, actual ground feel and no more painful rubbing, sores and leg constriction from the receptacle.

Though he is grateful for having been one of only 8 people in Oregon to have gotten this surgery, the healing process has been tough. He was already in a lot of pain before and this was meant to make him hurt a lot less. It’s gone pretty smoothly besides his body trying to adjust to his new gait. The ergonomics of the new leg are way better but that means he needs to undo 14 years of accommodating his old prosthesis. Also, he has been having more knee pain as a result. He should be fully healed from the surgery in another 3 months but meanwhile, he has run into other complications.

He hasn’t worked for 3 months and just as he was about to go back to work, he had to be rushed to the hospital for stabbing stomach pains.

These pains are not at all uncommon for him as he has scarring in his digestive tract that causes blockages, but it is life threatening.

over the last two weeks he has been rushed to the ER 4 times with stomach pains that make him writhe in agony. They kept him in for 5 days last week and released him with some meds, a restrictive diet and more questions than answers. Now he’s back in the hospital.

They said he has a perforation in the artery that delivers blood to the stomach. Willamette Falls is watching it but his family are fearing he will need yet another surgery.

Luckily, his medical expenses are covered but he is still struggling financially. Being the main breadwinner for the family, this puts additional stress on him that he doesn’t need. His partner also works but doesn’t make enough to cover all of the bills and provide home care. To that end, we are asking, ever so humbly for donations to ease the financial burden.