Help Dr Hawk Get Life Saving Treatment Overseas

What happens when the one who is accustomed to providing care, needs care? That is exactly where Dr. Chad Hawk finds himself today. He actually has an urgent need due to his liver being ravaged by a dangerous parasite – malaria.

In 2007, while on an Epik Missions trip to Ghana, he was infected with a rare and deadly form of malaria called plasmodium falciparum. Nothing about his case was typical or expected. First, the specific type of malaria he contracted was not known to exist in Ghana at that time. Second, the life cycle was atypical. He was home for two months before he began to exhibit symptoms. Usually that happens within one to three weeks. When symptoms came, they hit extremely hard.

He spent months getting his life back.

After the initial symptoms of spiking fevers up to 109 F (43 C), paralysis of his right arm, and convulsions, the primary problem was his liver function. You see, malaria parasites live in and attack liver cells. His liver enzymes were off the chart. He remembers Dr. Pearson, the tropical medicine specialist at the University of Virginia Hospital shaking his head while looking at his numbers and saying, “The only thing that will save you is an act of God.” That was a low point in his life.

Thankfully God did act, and his levels eventually came back into normal range after three months.

What you might not know about malaria is that you never completely get rid of the parasites. They continue to live in your liver cells the rest of your life. He has lived with this for 11 years now. During this time, he has had two reoccurrences/relapses. Each time, he has recovered quicker and with less severe symptoms than the time before. While that sounds encouraging, the fact is the malaria has been continuing to do damage to his liver over all that time.

Chad is now faced with an extremely serious situation.

His liver is starting to fail, and his pancreas is going with it. He is now a liver-induced diabetic. He does not qualify for a transplant because his liver is very unique, and the medical consensus is that he would reject any foreign liver.

That typically means eventual death. He does, however, have one other option.

 A group of doctors in Switzerland and Germany have been working on a procedure to use stem cells to regrow a person’s liver. They would use his cells to grow a new liver which would mitigate the risk with a transplant. He is a candidate for this procedure, but there are several steps that he needs to do first.

Chad needs to go to Switzerland and have a full genetic work up, biopsies, multiple imaging studies, blood tests, physical exams, and then his initial treatment.

None of this is covered by insurance because it is considered experimental. After all, the type of malaria he has is extremely rare, especially in North America. In fact, he’s the only one.

So now the one who normally provides care, needs care provided. He needs to raise $61,000 as soon as possible: $56,500 (50,000 Euros) for the initial work up and treatment, and the remainder for food, lodging, and travel expenses.

If the procedure works, (everyone is confident it will!!!) he will need to return to Switzerland three more times over the course of the next year and need to raise an additional $18,000.

His friends and family are asking for your help. Chad needs your prayers, thoughts, and any financial help you can offer.  The goal is to raise the initial funds by the end of January 2019. That’s not much time for such a big undertaking, but we know our God – working through His people – is capable of this miracle.  Please share the link to this page as you feel led.

God bless you!

Epik Missions 

Epik Chiropractic