Hi my name is Kelly and Joe is my brother. I have started this account in hopes to raise funds for Joe's medical expenses. This all started Monday Sept 26, Joe was helping our brother Don with a project he was working on, while throwing out debris at the county landfill Joe accidentally stepped on a nail that went threw the bottom of his shoe into his foot. He went home that day and cared for his injury best he could and got a tetna shot the following day, by Friday he was in such excruciating pain and his foot had become very swollen. I took him to the ER on Saturday they treated him with IV fluids, antibiotics and pain meds. They wrote him a prescription for oral antibiotics and advised him if it did not start feeling better with 72 hours to come back in. He felt a lil better when We left the ER, Unfortunately that didn't last long, within 36 hours we were back in the ER . By this time his foot was extremely swollen and the pain worse than before. They took an xray and found a abscess had formed and it was most likely infected.

The 1st procedure was to go in and remove/drain abscess . While in surgery the surgeon became concerned in what he saw .well, actually it was what he didn't see that was the problem, it was the limited amount of bleeding while doing the procedure, they then ordered a MRI of his leg and that is where they discovered Joe's Fermoral Artery had a 99 % blockage. They then scheduled him to have a stint put in (a procedure that normally would take an hour ) Joe was in the operating room for over 3 hours. The Doctor explained To us the magnitude of the blockage and that a stint would not have corrected the problem, the Doctor was able to unblock and open up Joes artery to get bloodflow to reach just down below his knee. The Doctor was doing what he could to preserve as much of Joe's leg as possible, the Dr then placed him on TPA in hopes to reduce the amount of blockage

( a clot busting medicine that had risks that could lead to Joe bleeding out )

The Doctor did another angioplasty procedure now trying to clear his lower half of his leg and to gain more bloodflow to Joe's injured foot and the Doctors efforts were succesful, Bloodflow and antibiotics were now getting to his foot , By this time Joe's injured foot had been deprived of adequate bloodflow and antibiotics for now 11 days. While recovering from his 2nd angioplasty procedure in the ICU his hemoglobin dropped suddenly, In efforts to find where he was bleeding they did an endoscopy and discovered he had a bleeding stomach ulcer. Thankfully they were able to get that under control. After a few days in the ICU and a couple of debridements on his foot later, we remained hopeful and positive that he would fully recover. The Dr's gave it a few days to see how his injury would respond due to the length and lack of adequate bloodflow to his injured foot. The Doctors had to make the decision that would be best for Joe's recovery. They had to amputate his right great (Big) toe . After the amputation a wound vac was put in place and a skin graph procedure was done While all of this was going on Joe was served an eviction notice and was evicted from his home. (Between hospital visit we were cleaning out his house). When they discharged Joe from the hospital after 31 days they prescribed him with antibiotic infusions to fight the infection within his bone. These infusions that would need to be administered threw a pic line every 6 hours for the next 36 days. He also will need labs drawn weekly to be sure that the antibiotics are working. 9 other medications that are also needing to be filled along with follow up Doctor appointments. Joe does not have any health insurance. The Dr has projected that he will not be able to bear weight on his foot until January. Without being able to work, we have filed all the paperwork in hopes of obtaining some government assistance but we will not know if he's granted eligibility for atleast another 90 -120 days. My husband and I have opened our home for Joe to stay with us while he is recovering. We are staying positive and I am trying to do my best to do all we can for a healthy recovery for Joe Any amount of donation, thoughts of inspiration would be greatly appreciated. IF you know Joe, you know he has never met a stranger. We plan on staying focused on the positive. Learning to live as an amputee will have its obstacles and challenges.All Money donated will go to directly to help with medical expenses. We Thank all of you who will keep Joe in your thoughts and prayers ❤.