You Can Help Tom Dees Beat IPF

My name is Ally Dees. I am the eldest daughter of Tom Dees, and I am reaching out to the Mid-South community for prayers and financial support for my dad, who was recently hospitalized with a serious and life-threatening lung disease.

Tom has spent the past 32 years working as a journalist, delivering the news of the Mid-South to this community.

Tom was hospitalized last week, struggling to breathe, and is now fighting for his life. He has been diagnosed with Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF). IPF is a rare lung disease, but unfortunately it hasn’t been rare for our family. His father (my grandad), a retired U.S. Air Force Navigator, passed away from this disease 8 months ago, back in April of 2022. This has all been absolutely devastating to us. In addition to the emotional toll, the financial strain of this situation is overwhelming. He will, unfortunately, not be able to work for now. In addition, my family is looking for extra work to keep us going through this trying time.

The road ahead for Tom will include many, many doctors visits, diagnostic testing, travel, medications, and evaluation to see if he is a candidate for a lung transplant. If he is fortunate enough to receive a donor match and healthy enough to get a transplant, he will be on immunosuppressive medication for the rest of his life.

If you can donate funds and share this post, it would be such a blessing to Tom and our family. If that isn’t something you can do at this time, we deeply appreciate you keeping my dad in your thoughts and prayers.

My dad has spent the past 25 years being the best father me and my two siblings could have asked for. We have had the privilege of meeting so many wonderful people in the Mid-South community because of him, and we have absolute faith that this community will rally to support him during this time.

We also want to thank all of the healthcare workers who have supported our family through this difficult time. We are so grateful for the incredible care you have provided for our family.