Andrew Nemeth's Medical Fund
Donation protected
Andrew Nemeth recently turned 31 years old. Most people his age have a professional career, have already or are close to getting married, having children with their significant other but Andrew's journey from the age of 14 years old to the present time has revolved around Crohn's Disease. At first, he was under the impression that in a year's time he would be healthy and would be able to use this as a way to help others dealing with debilitating diseases.
Unfortunately, that was not to be and doctors at his local hospital noticed a very fast decline in his health and transferred him to a bigger hospital in NYC. At this point in time, Andrew was 6 feet tall but only weighed a little over 110 pounds. Doctors initially believed things could be treated without surgery but after trying every possible regimen, 2 surgeons rushed into Andrew's hospital room on Super Bowl Sunday evening in January of 2001 and gave him 24 hours to live because his colon was about to burst at any moment, which would have caused internal bleeding and death. He awoke many, many hours later as the only person in the recovery room and an ileostomy bag attached to his stomach and dozens of staples going down the middle of his stomach. Due to the urgency, Andrew was thankful that he made it out of surgery alive and knew he had a long road ahead.
Fast forward several years and Andrew had so many complications that he had undergone about 10 major surgeries and dozens upon dozens hospitalizations, medical tests, different medications but unfortunately they all failed. He went from playing sports his freshman year of High School to basically living in the hospital with some of the top doctors in the world baffled and unable to fix his problems. Andrew was severely anemic and would often get blood transfusions but he would also constantly black out and collapse due to the minimal blood, severe infections, and unbearable pain.
At this point in time, Andrew has been in the operating room over 50 times and undergone at least 15 major surgeries, all of which have not been able to improve the underlying issues. All but a couple of doctors have dropped him as their patient over the years because they felt his case was so complex that all they would do is make things worse.
Andrew has talked so many times over the years that he wanted to start a foundation to try to pay it forward. But over the last few years, Andrew's health has rapidly declined again. He once again is anemic, but his intestines and bladder are starting to shut down. His surgeon is also very concerned that he will go septic, which would result in death if any of the three were to occur. Doctos have also discovered that his heart is beating 2 times slower than it should and he could very likely go into cardiac arrrest or have a heart attack. This was caused by several antibiotics that were used to treat his massive abyss' and fistula's.
Over the last 17 years, Andrew has tried to downplay his life threatening disease because he never wanted any pity and believed that someone always had it worse off. But privately, Andrew would bring gifts to pediatric patients, give lectures and have Q&A sessions with Medical students and Medical Residents. He has always felt that by trying to answer questions to his hospital bedmates and talk about ways that might make a new patient have a better understanding of the disease might help the patient feel a little more knowledable and he was always willing to stay in touch with anyone that was interested. And when he shared his story and answered questions during lectures he felt it was important for these future doctors to get a patients perspective on the subject so these students or residents would listen to, learn about some of the emotions, and take things out of it that they would not be able to understand by reading a text book. And even though Andrew has been diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) due to the struggles to stay alive and the mental and physical toll it has taken upon him, he has never passed on the opportunity to try to help others despite the toll it takes on him.
But over time, due to doctor appointments, medications, hospitalizations, tests, medical supplies, surgeries, etc., Andrew needs financial help to continue to receive treatment. He has stacks upon stacks of medical bills, from the last several years and has been unable to work due to his constant hospitalizations, surgical procedures, expensive medications, severe and chronic pain, and many significant flair ups, so unfortunately he has been unable to see certain specialists because the payments were/are too expensive, fill specific medications, and have appointments with several doctors that have treated him for over a decade and have a better understanding of his complex health because they were/are unwilling to treat him until they receive the full payments and because of these issues he is not able to get the proper care that his health needs and his bank savings has been quickly running lower and lower because he has used almost all of his money strictly on medical needs. The last chance he has to improve his health would be a very complicated surgery with 5 surgeons and 8 doctors in the operating room that would last anywhere from 10-14 hours and would come up in less than a month, which would likely be the last surgery available that could improve his health, but if he does not have this surgery in the very near future then his many doctors all feel that he has a high probability of death, and if he were able to have the surgery then after would be a very long hospital stay and then he would need to go to a surgical rehab facility. But as of now, he can't schedule the surgery because the cost is so steep that he would not have the ability to pay off the many people involved at the hospital, and the long stay at the post hospital facility. Andrew has done his absolute best to always avoid asking for help at all costs, which is why I am writing this on his behalf. Andrew will never give up fighting every second, minute, hour, day, and year for as long as he is alive but his health has declined so much that he has been in the hospital twice every single month for the last year and a half.
As one of Andrew's closest friends, I am trying to fundraise and pray that at some point in time Andrew will be healthy enough to start that non profit foundation and live a life with improved health and not the potential for death because I know he has so much to offer others. Over the years he has spent much time volunteering for several charities and has donated money at times to these amazing non profits to try to help others despite the fact that the money would have greatly helped him.
Any and all donations are greatly appreciated and any amount of money big or small would greatly help Andrew in his fight to stay alive. Every single penny will go directly to Andrew to pay off as many medical bills as possible and also help for the tens of thousands of dollars that his potential life saving surgery would cost.
Unfortunately, that was not to be and doctors at his local hospital noticed a very fast decline in his health and transferred him to a bigger hospital in NYC. At this point in time, Andrew was 6 feet tall but only weighed a little over 110 pounds. Doctors initially believed things could be treated without surgery but after trying every possible regimen, 2 surgeons rushed into Andrew's hospital room on Super Bowl Sunday evening in January of 2001 and gave him 24 hours to live because his colon was about to burst at any moment, which would have caused internal bleeding and death. He awoke many, many hours later as the only person in the recovery room and an ileostomy bag attached to his stomach and dozens of staples going down the middle of his stomach. Due to the urgency, Andrew was thankful that he made it out of surgery alive and knew he had a long road ahead.
Fast forward several years and Andrew had so many complications that he had undergone about 10 major surgeries and dozens upon dozens hospitalizations, medical tests, different medications but unfortunately they all failed. He went from playing sports his freshman year of High School to basically living in the hospital with some of the top doctors in the world baffled and unable to fix his problems. Andrew was severely anemic and would often get blood transfusions but he would also constantly black out and collapse due to the minimal blood, severe infections, and unbearable pain.
At this point in time, Andrew has been in the operating room over 50 times and undergone at least 15 major surgeries, all of which have not been able to improve the underlying issues. All but a couple of doctors have dropped him as their patient over the years because they felt his case was so complex that all they would do is make things worse.
Andrew has talked so many times over the years that he wanted to start a foundation to try to pay it forward. But over the last few years, Andrew's health has rapidly declined again. He once again is anemic, but his intestines and bladder are starting to shut down. His surgeon is also very concerned that he will go septic, which would result in death if any of the three were to occur. Doctos have also discovered that his heart is beating 2 times slower than it should and he could very likely go into cardiac arrrest or have a heart attack. This was caused by several antibiotics that were used to treat his massive abyss' and fistula's.
Over the last 17 years, Andrew has tried to downplay his life threatening disease because he never wanted any pity and believed that someone always had it worse off. But privately, Andrew would bring gifts to pediatric patients, give lectures and have Q&A sessions with Medical students and Medical Residents. He has always felt that by trying to answer questions to his hospital bedmates and talk about ways that might make a new patient have a better understanding of the disease might help the patient feel a little more knowledable and he was always willing to stay in touch with anyone that was interested. And when he shared his story and answered questions during lectures he felt it was important for these future doctors to get a patients perspective on the subject so these students or residents would listen to, learn about some of the emotions, and take things out of it that they would not be able to understand by reading a text book. And even though Andrew has been diagnosed with PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) due to the struggles to stay alive and the mental and physical toll it has taken upon him, he has never passed on the opportunity to try to help others despite the toll it takes on him.
But over time, due to doctor appointments, medications, hospitalizations, tests, medical supplies, surgeries, etc., Andrew needs financial help to continue to receive treatment. He has stacks upon stacks of medical bills, from the last several years and has been unable to work due to his constant hospitalizations, surgical procedures, expensive medications, severe and chronic pain, and many significant flair ups, so unfortunately he has been unable to see certain specialists because the payments were/are too expensive, fill specific medications, and have appointments with several doctors that have treated him for over a decade and have a better understanding of his complex health because they were/are unwilling to treat him until they receive the full payments and because of these issues he is not able to get the proper care that his health needs and his bank savings has been quickly running lower and lower because he has used almost all of his money strictly on medical needs. The last chance he has to improve his health would be a very complicated surgery with 5 surgeons and 8 doctors in the operating room that would last anywhere from 10-14 hours and would come up in less than a month, which would likely be the last surgery available that could improve his health, but if he does not have this surgery in the very near future then his many doctors all feel that he has a high probability of death, and if he were able to have the surgery then after would be a very long hospital stay and then he would need to go to a surgical rehab facility. But as of now, he can't schedule the surgery because the cost is so steep that he would not have the ability to pay off the many people involved at the hospital, and the long stay at the post hospital facility. Andrew has done his absolute best to always avoid asking for help at all costs, which is why I am writing this on his behalf. Andrew will never give up fighting every second, minute, hour, day, and year for as long as he is alive but his health has declined so much that he has been in the hospital twice every single month for the last year and a half.
As one of Andrew's closest friends, I am trying to fundraise and pray that at some point in time Andrew will be healthy enough to start that non profit foundation and live a life with improved health and not the potential for death because I know he has so much to offer others. Over the years he has spent much time volunteering for several charities and has donated money at times to these amazing non profits to try to help others despite the fact that the money would have greatly helped him.
Any and all donations are greatly appreciated and any amount of money big or small would greatly help Andrew in his fight to stay alive. Every single penny will go directly to Andrew to pay off as many medical bills as possible and also help for the tens of thousands of dollars that his potential life saving surgery would cost.
Organizer
Andrew Nemeth
Organizer
Norwood, NJ