Medical and Living Expenses

My name is Josh Hines and I'm never one to ask for a handout or to ask for anything so this is pretty hard for me. I have been a volunteer firefighter in Baldwin County for 11 years and continue to be involved as much as possible. Most of my working life has been involved in public safety, I work for two local police departments as a police dispatcher your and a corrections officer. I absolutely love law enforcement and that's my ultimate goal to get back to. I'm not free time I love to hunt I love to fish my favorite thing is to spend time with my family and friends. Being on the water weather I have a fishing pole in my hand or not is my happy place. I had an account a few years ago that a friend set up to help with medical bills and prescription medications because at the time I did not have insurance coverage. I will be forever grateful for all of the support that I received not only financially but emotionally as well. Prayers are always helpful and I can't get enough of them. I have been diagnosed with a rare disease called Wegner's Disease, it restricts the blood flow to certain organs and in my case it affected my kidneys. There is no cure, very little treatment options and no way it could have been prevented. I was originally diagnosed in February of 2015 and after a long road of plasma pheresis treatments and taking chemo therapy pills the disease seemed to be going into a dormant stage. I began feeling better, looking better, and acting like my old self. In November of 2016 I went to the doctor because my blood pressure was high and I began to hold fluids. All of my numbers were bad and they had to start emergency dialysis. Since November I have been on different types of dialysis. I began doing hemodialysis which was in a clinic 3 days a week for 5 hours each day. This made me feel horrible and i never looked forward to going. The only thing that made it bearable was the awesome staff at my clinic. I love every single one of them. I had a whacky diet I had to stick to and had got in trouble if my numbers came back bad. I stuck with it, my numbers stayed good and then I was allowed to begin doing treatments at home manually. I had a tube surgically placed inside my stomach and 5 times a day for 45 minutes I had to go into a closed off room and drain the fluid out then put new solution back in. Now I am on a machine that does it while I sleep. I have 14500 millileters that fill and drain out of my body every night. I do one manual exchange throughout the day. I have been out of work since November but God bless Pike Electric and the National Kidney foundation because they are paying my insurance. However I still have hundreds of thousands of dollars I owe from when I didn't have insurance. I am frequently in and out of hospitals because my immune system is so compromised that I get sick a lot quicker than anyone else. Luckily was approved for disability benefits but since I only have a 10 year work history, it isn't much. I do receive food assistance....but even though I'm a single guy with no kids.....$53 isn't a lot for a month. I have recently been given the go ahead to be put on a transplant list. I started at Ochner's and I'm making my way throughout the region on to University of Mississippi, UAB, and Sacred Heart. My evaluation went well and now we are looking for a match. If found, my insurance will pay for both surgeries so there will be no out of pocket expense to the donor. If you would like to be tested please contact me. The surgery doesn't take long and you can return home the next day and recovery is about a week or two. I will have to stay within a few miles of the transplant facility for at least five weeks. Meaning I have to pay expenses for a new home, fuel, food, and other utilities not only here in Baldwin County but wherever I am recovering as well. I wanted to open this as quick as possible so I will be prepared. They can call at any moment. Anything helps, even by just sharing my story or saying a prayer. Thank you all so much.