Okay, so listen up, Interwebz! I need your help.
If you’ve been reading my blog for long, you’ll know that I have a very sick little brother. He’s grown even more sick, and now my family is in a very tough situation. Here’s the story:
A Series of Small Miracles
Justin is a 27 yr old with end stage liver failure, diagnosed in June.
Back then, he had no healthcare, no job, and was living with our sister and their mom.
Through a few miracles and with the help of a few angels, we got him covered with state Medicaid (on his 27th birthday!) far more quickly than you could imagine. Which is good, because then the transplant team would see him.
We pulled a few strings and got him in to see the liver transplant team more quickly than normal, too.
After a few agonizing weeks, he was finally listed for a liver transplant on November 10th. We’ve been trying to wait patiently ever since, in spite of him being in and out of the hospital several times after being listed.
Thankfully everything on the miracle side has been moving quickly; because his health deteriorated far more quickly than any of the professionals believed would happen.
Well, on Christmas day, my sister and their mom took him to the Emergency Room again.
He ended up in the ICU (Intensive Care Unit). At first, they admitted him for internal bleeding. Then they said his kidneys weren’t functioning. Miraculously, those kidneys started working again on their own, right before beginning dialysis treatment.
But, as any good roller coaster story goes, the doctors then realized that Justin’s heart is now failing. And now everything about his health is deteriorating quickly.
The doctors temporarily took him off the transplant list. Until they can get the heart situation under control, it is unsafe for them to put him through a transplant.
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Our sister and their mom are both servers in the restaurant business. Thankfully, both of their employers have given them the time off they need without their jobs being in jeopardy. However, there is no paid time off and no vacation time in the restaurant business. While they have always been able to just make ends meet, I am concerned about them not being able to spend time with Justin during his last days– either before death, or in the case that his heart miraculously recovers– a liver transplant. If he does recover, he will absolutely be at the very top of the list because he is currently so very sick, so the transplant could happen very soon.
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