Support Lorenzo Thomas' Fight for Recovery

Anyone that knows Lorenzo Thomas, affectionately called “LT” by some and “Zo” by others, knows that he will do anything to help anyone.

For as long as I’ve known him, he has been the life of the party, always happy and smiling, willing to do anything to make someone smile or make their day a bit better. I recall a time when he showed up to bring his partner Joellen flowers at her work to cheer her up, wearing a Superman costume.

It’s hard to fathom that on January 6, 2025, LT was shoveling snow at home, and one week later, on the 13th, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital and admitted to the ICU in critical condition with sepsis. The next morning, Joellen got a call from the doctor that he was in multi-system organ failure - his heart, liver, and kidneys.

The source of the infection was identified as being his knee, and he was started on antibiotics in addition to medications to control his blood pressure, blood sugar, pain, and hallucinations, in addition to needing dialysis.

Slowly, things have improved, but it’s been two steps forward and one step back.

Yesterday (1/23), he underwent two procedures. The first was to place a hemodialysis catheter, and the second was surgery to flush the knee. Today, he has had setbacks with being unable to keep his blood pressure or blood sugar up high enough, so he had to be restarted on several meds. That meant he had to have a central line put back in (they removed it yesterday because he had been off of everything). He was restarted on constant dialysis as well today.

Tonight, he was too weak to eat his dinner and had trouble getting enough suction on his straw to get juice out of the container. He was much weaker this evening than he was this morning.

We don't know what the future looks like for Lorenzo, but we know it's not going to be easy. His leg is still severely swollen, and he is unable to put any weight on it. We suspect that he will be in the ICU for another week or so, then will likely need to go to a rehab facility (or step down within the hospital first) until he can walk and we figure out what the ongoing dialysis needs will be. Thankfully, he does have insurance now, but as we all know, insurance will not cover everything. Anything you can do to help alleviate some of the financial burden would be greatly appreciated. Prayers are also appreciated if a financial contribution is not possible.