John Spironello’s journey
Donation protected
It is amazing when you look around you at the place you call home and realize that the place you are safe may not accommodate you in the event of a medical change in your life. Well that is what is happening for our family.
john became sick back in the late winter with undiagnosed abdomenal and leg pain. After countless doctors visits, visits to specialists, and every ultrasound, cat scan and X-ray possible he continued to suffer with no diagnosis. Out of desperation he was admitted to the hospital where countless tests and blood vials were drawn, still no diagnosis. As the days passed his pain became increasingly worse and things started to quickly progress into a state of paralysis and lack of sensation to his complete lower body.
He felt like no doctors were listening to his symptoms. Finally his physiotherapist at the hospital wrote a report stating that she felt this was more than diabetic neuropathy that the doctor adamantly stated it was. Finally he got headed in the right direction. An MRI was ordered of his upper spine and on Easter Sunday we were given the diagnosis of a thoracic spine tumour displacing his spinal cord. This tumour and the way it had displaced the spinal cord stopping the spinal fluid from reaching his lower spinal cord and permanent nerve damage to his legs and abdomen. He was taken to Hamilton General Hospital for assessment and the only hope was to agree to a very high risk spinal cord surgery to remove the tumour with no guarantees that anything would change in his condition to his legs, making him dependent on a wheelchair. The surgery was performed and after 4.5 hours the tumour was removed, now off to pathology to wait to see if it is cancer.
so now john, once a thriving businessman and mechanic, father and husband is facing the dreaded fate of being immobile.
So is your house ready for something like this? It isn’t and it is a scary reality that no one wants to deal with. The massive expense of renovating and installing a lift so he can even enter his own home and an accessible bathroom, lifts to take him out of bed to the wheelchair and to the bathroom, wheelchairs...and what about some kind of vehicle so he is able to go out again...wow it is mind blowing. No one is financially ready for this, and the changes have to happen quickly to get him home. We very reluctantly have been convinced by family members that a go fund me page would help, so here we are, humbly are asking for your help to get john back home.
john became sick back in the late winter with undiagnosed abdomenal and leg pain. After countless doctors visits, visits to specialists, and every ultrasound, cat scan and X-ray possible he continued to suffer with no diagnosis. Out of desperation he was admitted to the hospital where countless tests and blood vials were drawn, still no diagnosis. As the days passed his pain became increasingly worse and things started to quickly progress into a state of paralysis and lack of sensation to his complete lower body.
He felt like no doctors were listening to his symptoms. Finally his physiotherapist at the hospital wrote a report stating that she felt this was more than diabetic neuropathy that the doctor adamantly stated it was. Finally he got headed in the right direction. An MRI was ordered of his upper spine and on Easter Sunday we were given the diagnosis of a thoracic spine tumour displacing his spinal cord. This tumour and the way it had displaced the spinal cord stopping the spinal fluid from reaching his lower spinal cord and permanent nerve damage to his legs and abdomen. He was taken to Hamilton General Hospital for assessment and the only hope was to agree to a very high risk spinal cord surgery to remove the tumour with no guarantees that anything would change in his condition to his legs, making him dependent on a wheelchair. The surgery was performed and after 4.5 hours the tumour was removed, now off to pathology to wait to see if it is cancer.
so now john, once a thriving businessman and mechanic, father and husband is facing the dreaded fate of being immobile.
So is your house ready for something like this? It isn’t and it is a scary reality that no one wants to deal with. The massive expense of renovating and installing a lift so he can even enter his own home and an accessible bathroom, lifts to take him out of bed to the wheelchair and to the bathroom, wheelchairs...and what about some kind of vehicle so he is able to go out again...wow it is mind blowing. No one is financially ready for this, and the changes have to happen quickly to get him home. We very reluctantly have been convinced by family members that a go fund me page would help, so here we are, humbly are asking for your help to get john back home.
Fundraising team (3)
Jennifer Spironello
Organizer
Raised $9,680 from 44 donations
Welland, ON
Carolyn Johnston
Team member
Georgette Belanger
Team member
This team raised $8,130 from 63 other donations.
