Help Tom Walk Again
Donation protected
My name is Maxwell Greggo. At the end of January 2017 my father, Tom, was home recovering from a routine kidney stone operation. Walking back to bed from a midnight bathroom visit he lost consciousness and fell, waking up hours later face down and unable to move. Because my mother was away visiting family and I live out of town, there was no one home to help him or hear him call for help. He laid there for hours, immobilized and alone, unable to answer the phone when messages came in from my mom asking how he was doing and if he was alright. Worried he hadn’t responded, she managed to reach two family friends to go to the house and check up on him and finally, sixteen hours after falling, paramedics were called and he was taken to the hospital.
It was determined that the fall had caused severe whiplash that resulted in a torn ligament misaligning three vertebrae in his neck and compressing his spinal cord. Emergency surgery stabilized and reinforced his spinal column, but unfortunately even after the surgery he found he was paralyzed with no feeling or control of his body from the shoulders down. After months of intense physical and occupational therapy and more recovery at home he has progressed to the point where he has regained some feeling throughout his body and some control of his shoulders and arms, but still, control of his legs, feet, and hands remains out of reach. He also suffers from constant nerve pain and frequent spasms, common to spinal cord injuries.
My dad has always been a very active man, always working on his car, fixing things around the house, running his Hi-Fi repair shop, helping his friends out with their projects, and helping me out countless times when I found myself in a jam and didn’t have the mechanical experience to handle it. His days now consist of him lying in bed, or at best being put into his manual wheelchair, and passively watching TV or listening to music. He needs constant 24 hour support to perform even basic tasks like eating.
Tom has recently been approved by The Stem Cell Institute, a world leader in their field of stem cell research and therapy, for treatment in August in Panama City, Panama. Unfortunately, this treatment isn’t yet available in the United States and requires travelling abroad. Scans taken before and after the injury as well as months into his recovery show that his spinal cord wasn’t torn or severed, only bruised and swollen. These scans were reviewed by the institute’s team of doctors before accepting him. The stem cells they use will be collected from Tom’s bone marrow and obtained from umbilical cord and placental tissue donated by mothers after normal births. The Stem Cell Institute has had success in treating similar injuries, and when performed within two years of the original trauma they show an 83% chance of significant recovery.
The initial treatment costs $37,200 and so far we estimate that we’ll need $5,000 for travel for my dad and mother along with specialized accessible medical equipment and supplies. Tom’s medical care and has put extreme financial and personal strain on our family simply maintaining the status quo. We need help. Unfortunately his insurance will not cover this treatment.
I would like to personally express my gratitude for your consideration, and especially for the wonderful help and support already given by so many of Dad’s friends and family.
Thank you.
Max
It was determined that the fall had caused severe whiplash that resulted in a torn ligament misaligning three vertebrae in his neck and compressing his spinal cord. Emergency surgery stabilized and reinforced his spinal column, but unfortunately even after the surgery he found he was paralyzed with no feeling or control of his body from the shoulders down. After months of intense physical and occupational therapy and more recovery at home he has progressed to the point where he has regained some feeling throughout his body and some control of his shoulders and arms, but still, control of his legs, feet, and hands remains out of reach. He also suffers from constant nerve pain and frequent spasms, common to spinal cord injuries.
My dad has always been a very active man, always working on his car, fixing things around the house, running his Hi-Fi repair shop, helping his friends out with their projects, and helping me out countless times when I found myself in a jam and didn’t have the mechanical experience to handle it. His days now consist of him lying in bed, or at best being put into his manual wheelchair, and passively watching TV or listening to music. He needs constant 24 hour support to perform even basic tasks like eating.
Tom has recently been approved by The Stem Cell Institute, a world leader in their field of stem cell research and therapy, for treatment in August in Panama City, Panama. Unfortunately, this treatment isn’t yet available in the United States and requires travelling abroad. Scans taken before and after the injury as well as months into his recovery show that his spinal cord wasn’t torn or severed, only bruised and swollen. These scans were reviewed by the institute’s team of doctors before accepting him. The stem cells they use will be collected from Tom’s bone marrow and obtained from umbilical cord and placental tissue donated by mothers after normal births. The Stem Cell Institute has had success in treating similar injuries, and when performed within two years of the original trauma they show an 83% chance of significant recovery.
The initial treatment costs $37,200 and so far we estimate that we’ll need $5,000 for travel for my dad and mother along with specialized accessible medical equipment and supplies. Tom’s medical care and has put extreme financial and personal strain on our family simply maintaining the status quo. We need help. Unfortunately his insurance will not cover this treatment.
I would like to personally express my gratitude for your consideration, and especially for the wonderful help and support already given by so many of Dad’s friends and family.
Thank you.
Max
Organizer
Maxwell Greggo
Organizer
St. Petersburg, FL
