Urgent Medical Care For Josh Smith

Hi, my name is Art Altounian and it is with great trepidation and sadness that I write this GoFundMe for my best friend and brother, Josh Smith. Art and Josh go back decades. We are friends, work buddies, collaborators, bike riding pals, and partners. Josh’s pain equals my pain. His family is my family. There is no separation here. If you know anything about Josh’s plight and journey, it’s no joke. It should be made into a movie or documentary series. His hash tag for quite some time was “No Colon Still Rollin.” Josh is supremely fit as you already probably know, but years ago his Crohn’s disease ravished his body. I visited him a couple of times during a 30 day stay at Cedars Sinai in LA and the doctor’s told him his only chance to survive how bad it had gotten, was to fully remove his colon. All 6 feet. It was killing him. He was still hopeful that there was a chance to fix it with medication. That last visit I had was a day before the inevitable surgery. He was down to about 140 lbs. He was dying. Period. There were 3 surgeries in all over the next several months and they implemented a newish type of surgery procedure called a “J-Pouch” that would keep him away from needing a colostomy bag. It isn’t ideal - for example for the past 7 years of living with the J-Pouch he hasn’t gotten more than 3 hours at a time of sleep, which often leaves him exhausted. While the J-Pouch is better than a colostomy bag, it has drawbacks also. Imagine needing to use the bathroom an average of 7 to 8 times per day, or more.

Josh NEVER complained about this. As far as he was concerned the Crohn’s disease was gone and sleepless nights and then days calculating the whereabouts of nearby bathrooms was a fine trade off. But then this summer, Josh didn’t feel right, something was wrong with the pouch. A surgery was needed to see what had gone wrong. The catastrophic recent discovery is that the Crohn’s is back with a vengeance. Now it has entered into his lower intestines and all around the pouch itself. Medication is needed and it’s an insane amount of money to cover this.

Sadly as all of his medical issues flared up the end of 2023 HIS INSURANCE DROPPED HIM. He has been told he was not insurable. Josh needs procedures and specific infusions to keep him healthy and save his J-Pouch. We want to do everything we can to keep this from progressing further, and we know the doctors and God have this. Unfortunately with insurance not kicking in to cover these expenses, Josh needs all the help he can get. His first infusion is $38,000 and it is out of pocket. He needs 3 of these infusions total.

There will be other expenses coming up and they will easily be over $120,000. We are hopeful at some point for a better insurance plan that will hopefully cover some of it, but in the meantime, this is an emergency GoFundMe for Josh and his family.

If Josh has ever taught you, helped you either in Pilates, Cross Fit or life. Now is the time to step up for him. I know I will and I’m hopeful that many of you will also. He is a fantastic husband, father, mentor, brother, friend and a Mensch. We love Josh and he absolutely hates that it’s come to this. Josh has spent his entire life trying to help people live healthy lifestyles while he quietly battles existential threats to his own health every...single...day. His boys and his family are everything to him. Zach and Oliver need their dad. They love and respect him with every fiber of their being. Emily needs him healthy and strong and leading his family into the future. Right now his future is in jeopardy. I’m in to help him, will you? Our goal is to raise $50,000 for Josh in the next 30 days if at all possible.