Help Jeff Okland in CIDP / Cancer Champaign
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For those of you that may know or for those who have yet to find out, my friend and neighbor Jeff Okland has had quite the battle since 2017. He was diagnosed with cancer twice, and is now a two time cancer survivor which is a miracle of it’s own. However, he was also diagnosed with a very rare disease called CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy)CIDP Video. Here is his story in short...
In 2015 Jeff was living a normal life working as a tooling engineer and following his passion for bodybuilding as you will see in his photo gallery. He was receiving his IVIG treatments every three weeks and was seeing a great improvement from them. Fortunately, he was insured through his company as each treatment costs $60.000. Unfortunately, he was let go from his job due to the needs his disease required at the time and in turn lost his insurance coverage. This was and is an enormous set back.
What is CIDP?
CIDP is a rare neuromuscular disease similar to MS. This disease affects your nerve to muscle conduction making your muscles weak and eventually useless if not treated. That’s why he can no longer perform most jobs; he cannot run, walk without a walker or cane, and he's even unable to drive at times. Primarily your legs, feet, hands and arms are affected. Daily activities such as showering, cooking, or just about anything you can think of that needs to be done in a day becomes slow, painful, dangerous and pretty much impossible.
Recovery is slow, and also not exact due to the rarity of the disease. Only 1 out of 100,000 people will fall victim to the disease. With treatment, some may have a bout of CIDP followed by spontaneous recovery, while others may have many bouts with partial recovery in between relapses. Others may not recover at all.
Treatment for CIDP includes corticosteroids such as prednisone, which may be prescribed alone or in combination with immunosuppressant drugs. Plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy are effective. IVIg may be used as a first line therapy. Physiotherapy may improve muscle strength, function and mobility, and minimize the shrinkage of muscles and tendons and distortions of the joints.
Jeff needs to get back on his IVIg treatments that were helping him greatly since he has been off of them the pain has become unmanageable. Currently Jeff is using very strong, daily medications to try and control the pain but it’s just not working anymore. To try and better manage his pain, Jeff underwent surgery to have the BurstDR Simulation implanted in his spine which provides electrical pulses to alleviate his pain. This is not working. Jeff’s doctor’s advising him relocating from 30 years in Dallas area to warmer climate will aid treatments repairing damaged nerves and be more tolerable to pain.
If Jeff can reach his goal of $1,500,000.00 it will enable him to receive his treatments. Sadly, time is of the essence as he needs these infusions to prevent his condition from worsening to the point of being confined to a wheelchair. Jeff has never been one to ask for help but he truly does need it at this time in his life.
He would be forever grateful for any help even if it’s sharing his page.
Thank you for any donations or spreading the word in advance.
In 2015 Jeff was living a normal life working as a tooling engineer and following his passion for bodybuilding as you will see in his photo gallery. He was receiving his IVIG treatments every three weeks and was seeing a great improvement from them. Fortunately, he was insured through his company as each treatment costs $60.000. Unfortunately, he was let go from his job due to the needs his disease required at the time and in turn lost his insurance coverage. This was and is an enormous set back.
What is CIDP?
CIDP is a rare neuromuscular disease similar to MS. This disease affects your nerve to muscle conduction making your muscles weak and eventually useless if not treated. That’s why he can no longer perform most jobs; he cannot run, walk without a walker or cane, and he's even unable to drive at times. Primarily your legs, feet, hands and arms are affected. Daily activities such as showering, cooking, or just about anything you can think of that needs to be done in a day becomes slow, painful, dangerous and pretty much impossible.
Recovery is slow, and also not exact due to the rarity of the disease. Only 1 out of 100,000 people will fall victim to the disease. With treatment, some may have a bout of CIDP followed by spontaneous recovery, while others may have many bouts with partial recovery in between relapses. Others may not recover at all.
Treatment for CIDP includes corticosteroids such as prednisone, which may be prescribed alone or in combination with immunosuppressant drugs. Plasmapheresis (plasma exchange) and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIg) therapy are effective. IVIg may be used as a first line therapy. Physiotherapy may improve muscle strength, function and mobility, and minimize the shrinkage of muscles and tendons and distortions of the joints.
Jeff needs to get back on his IVIg treatments that were helping him greatly since he has been off of them the pain has become unmanageable. Currently Jeff is using very strong, daily medications to try and control the pain but it’s just not working anymore. To try and better manage his pain, Jeff underwent surgery to have the BurstDR Simulation implanted in his spine which provides electrical pulses to alleviate his pain. This is not working. Jeff’s doctor’s advising him relocating from 30 years in Dallas area to warmer climate will aid treatments repairing damaged nerves and be more tolerable to pain.
If Jeff can reach his goal of $1,500,000.00 it will enable him to receive his treatments. Sadly, time is of the essence as he needs these infusions to prevent his condition from worsening to the point of being confined to a wheelchair. Jeff has never been one to ask for help but he truly does need it at this time in his life.
He would be forever grateful for any help even if it’s sharing his page.
Thank you for any donations or spreading the word in advance.
Organizer
Jeff Okland
Organizer
Dallas, TX
