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Matthew's Medical Fund

This campaign is for my son Matthew, who has advanced liver disease. The message below is from him.

From Matthew:

Thanks for taking a few seconds to learn about my story. I am a PhD student at Texas Christian University (currently on medical leave) and my wife is a junior high-school teacher in a low income district. We live in Fort Worth, TX. 

On Sept. 24th, 2016 I had a catastrophic medical incident resulting in massive internal bleeding and requiring life-saving surgery. I would later find that I have cirhossis of the liver (advanced liver disease) resulting from an uncommon autoimmune disorder with no known cause.

Despite having supposedly good health insurance through our local ACA exchange, my wife and I were saddled with over $62,000 in medical bills and pushed into bankruptcy.

Worse yet, a specialist I need to see was unavailable through any ACA insurance options on the 2017 exchange. As a result I must either go on my wife's employer insurance as a spouse or we will be forced to relocate. Neither option is cheap. 



As many are aware, being a spouse on employer insurance is very expensive. Our monthly premium alone is nearly $1,000. Presently, I require a surgery every 6 to 8 weeks to help prevent a recurrence of the internal bleeding and allow me to safely navigate my way to the liver transplant I will likely need in a few years. This too comes with substantial cost. Without these surgeries my risk of death is very high. 

What We Are Asking For:

Marie and I intend to absorb as much of the cost of my medical care as we can, but it is unfortunately likely that we cannot do it alone. We are hoping to raise $5,000 to help offset the cost of the significant increase in our insurance premium and the future medical bills and prescription costs which we will incur this year from my surgeries. 

This money would make a profound difference for us. It would allow us to keep our home and stay in a community where we have built a life and feel like we can make a difference. Additionally, it may very well save my life. 



Whether or not we reach our goal, a profound thank you is in order to anyone who has read my story and/or shared theirs with us. Any amount we are able to raise: $100, $10, $1 will leave us exceptionally humbled and grateful for your kindness and concern.

My mother (Wanda Stewart) is the sponsor for this GoFundMe in order to help cut down on the financial complications we are facing related to our current and future medical bills. 

If you're interested in more details of my story, please check out this article about my health incident in The Week: This is How American Healthcare Kills People
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Donations 

  • Eric Wadsten
    • $20 
    • 5 yrs
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Organiser

Wanda Stewart
Organiser
Jamestown, NY

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