Joey's Operation

Our brother Joey is now 25 years of age, and he was born with a very serious condition of epilepsy and mild cerebral palsy. He was having seizures from birth, but he was ten months old when he was actually diagnosed with epilepsy. Joey is on multiple medications for his illness and at age two due to complications he was sent to London Ontario for an assessment. This led to him having to undergo brain surgery. This procedure helped Joey with his seizures for many years but it also had side effects leaving him unable to walk for a period of time. A couple of years of physio at The Janeway hospital in St. John's NL he began to walk again. After this ordeal Joey went on to start schooling where we found out that he wasn't only physically but also mentally challenged. He went through school in special needs right up until the age of 21. By the time Joey reached the age of ten his seizures became out of control where brain surgery was just not an option. Shortly after we were informed by his neurologist Dr. David Buckley that there was an experimental procedure and technology available that could benefit Joey. This machine was called a Vagal Nerve Stimulator (VNS). It was implanted into Joey's chest and wired to his brain. What a VNS does is send pulses to his brain when he is having a seizure and stops the seizure from becoming a violent episode. Joey was the first in Atlantic Canada to undergo this operation.

Joey as of now is still on multiple medications and his VNS has stopped working which is leading to give Joey many more seizures. We have been told by Joey's doctor that the best option for him now is to get his VNS replaced. This machine when Joey got it at first was covered by MCP but due to government funding that is not the case anymore. The cost has to be covered by us the family. We are starting this GoFundMe page hoping that it will help pay some cost of this expensive operation. This procedure could cost up to $20000. So we are setting our goal to $25000 for any extra expenses that very possibly may come up. If we exceed our goal through GoFundMe and other fundraisers the extra money will help our mom with Joey`s medical care in the future.

We would like to thank you in advance for any donations that you place to help our brother Joey who has had a challenging life but anyone who knows Joey personally will tell you a very happy one.

Thank you, Jonathan & William Predham