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Jason was diagnosed with Diabetes in early 2010. During that time he was employed and had full medical insurance. In 2012 the company downsized and all lighting positions were eliminated, taking away his employment. He was also left without insurance, and was unable to obtain any in this great country of ours.
In early April 2013 on a Sunday, he developed a basic pimple. It burst in one day. It got red and a bit hard, like burst pimples do. By late Monday night, his temperature was fluctuating. He attempted to get in to see a doctor, but they couldn't get him an appointment. A nurse friend felt it was a boil and needed to simply run its course. By Friday, Jason's condition had improved but, while getting cleaned up at the hotel, he noticed his swelling had increased considerably and a normally walnut sized portion of his anatomy was now the size of a grapefruit. He immediately left for the hospital which is where the story truly gets dark. He was checked into the ER almost immediately where they discovered white blood cell count was quadruple what it should be, signaling a massive infection of some sort. They started pumping antibiotics and administering more tests. He was assigned SIX different doctors...a general MD, a urologist, an endocrinologist, an infectious diseases MD, a surgeon, and a nephrologist (kidney doctor). The hospital staff determined surgery was necessary to drain the infection which had created a rather large abscess. The doctors did surgery on Monday which was successful at draining the swelling but left with an open 2.5" incision to allow for further drainage. Aggressive antibiotics almost led to kidney failure, which caused a longer hospital stay. During this time, he was issued a WoundVac, a medically advanced device that helps fluid to move through the wound to promote healing. Again, all of this, while necessary, was taking place with no insurance. Expensive necessities to keep him alive became commonplace.
After 9 days in the hospital he was discharged. He flew to Nashville to stay with his mother and started seeing a normal doctor and endocrinologist. He was shown how to dress and cleaned his own wounds since he could no longer afford doctor visits or hospital care. Jason was then put on a mandatory no work order. He was able to maintain his own recovery and eventually had a clean bill of health, but had no income.
All in all, it ended up being about a 5 week issue. Now viewed as a health risk he lost all of his May/June work. He is still looking, in this economy, in this job market, with this baggage to share with potential employers.
The hospital bill was $81,000. Without insurance the hospital graciously discounted it to $34,000, plus the additional $6000 in charges from doctors to imaging to anesthesiologists. The hospital will not set up a payment plan for any less than $900/month which he cannot afford. Should a 9 day stay in the hospital cost $40K...an average person's yearly salary? $4450 per day? Probably not- especially for someone who has spent his adult life employed, but these are the challenges of healthcare today, and Jason's future is at severe risk due to one Hospital stay. Jason is overwhelmed. In his own words: "I'm staying as relaxed as I can, and I understand that lots of people have medical bills. I'm just scared that this might mean bankruptcy and I really want to avoid that by all means. The hospital and everyone deserve to get paid...I got great care and if not for them I could be dead...but how I'm supposed to afford a 40K medical bill is beyond me."
Please, if you can, give a little bit to a man who gives his all each and every day. If you know Puppy, you know what we mean. It's a lot of money for one good person who isn't able to work to come up with. It’s a lot less money if people affected by this story chip in small amounts. We've set it up so that the donations go directly to Jason's paypal account so that he can start using the support immediately. At the very least we are hoping to raise enough to cover the first set of payments and buy him some time. Thank you for your support!
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