Family desperately needs your help
The Final Entry
It is my sad duty to let everyone know that Jo Ann passed away on Friday Feb. 29th 2008. She developed some kind of gastrointestonal
infection that we thought was the flu on the Mon. and when we got her to the Doc. Thurs. she was imediatly hospitalized due
to extremley low B.P. they discovered that her kidneys had shut down. Despite the best efforts of the E.R. staff and the I.C.U.
staff she passed away on Friday from masive organ shut down.
Jim.
Update:
Jo Ann had to go to Toronto for the week of Oct 1 to 5th for reassessment for transplant and we will find out
the results in 3 to 4 weeks.
The week was hard on both of us and the hospital sure doesn't make things easy, its so big and they send
you all over it. Originally we thought that Jo was to be an inpatient like last time but we found out a week before we where
to go up that no she would be an outpatient. so we had to scramble to get a second room for her at the college hotel, cheap
rates only $52.00 a night each but definitely a no frills hotel. No washroom in room its down the hall, beds where a piece
of foam on a sheat of plywood. Total cost of the week when you add in the lost wages was over $1300.00
We found out that the average wait time for lungs is now 3 months and that the survival rate is now 90%
for surgery and 50% to 5 years.
However the hospital expects us to be able to have Jo come in 3 times a week for 3 months prior to surgery and for
at least 3 months after surgery for exercise. So we need to raise enough money to pay for lodging in Toronto as well
as food and parking plus have enough so that we can pay the bills for the house in Welland. I am thinking that we should
try to get an apartment in Toronto but near the hospital they go for about $1200 a month so there's $14,000 plus food and
parking figure another $1000 a month and then for the house in Welland about $15,000 just for the bills there. And I
figure that we may be there for at least a year. So in all I am going to try to raise $50,000 and hopefully that will be able
to see us through a year in Toronto.
Please if you are reading this make a donation through paypal in whatever amount you can and pass this address
on to everyone in your email list.
Thank You
Jim Bottrill
Oct 8 2007
Would you like to help but don't know how. Check out our store on Amazon.com everytime you buy something they pay us. Just
click here.
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I would like to make a donation to help. |
I am going to ask that every person that comes here donate just $5.00 and then pass
the addy for this site on to at least 10 people if everyone can donate that small amount of $5.00 then get 10 others to do
the same what will happen is that soon the goal of $50,000 will be reached and maybe exceeded. Any excess funds will be used
to repair our house.
Just an update:
As of this point in time we have been trying to get Jo Ann on ODSP for medical coverage but they
are being difficult to say the least. The medication that she is on is set to come on the market soon and will be costing
over $9,000 a bottle and she uses 2 bottles a month plus the pumps, the infusion sets and reservoirs it adds up to a hefty
chunk of change. We have been receiving this under compassionate standing as Jo Ann was one of the people in the trials for
this drug but now that its coming on the market they want us to start paying. One of the drug company reps got involved with
ODSP and it looks like we may get medical coverage. At this point in time we have been devoting so much into getting back
and forth to see her doc in Toronto as well as all the rest of what needs to be done that the house we have now needs extensive
repairs, a new roof, the floor in the kitchen and bathroom both need to be replaced right down to the Joists and some of them
need replacing. Our furnace is a 1950's space heater and all of our windows leak air like crazy. The house is less than 1000
sq ft but is costing over $350 to heat with gas during winter. What we need is for everyone that comes to this site is
to pass on the URL and if possible please make some kind of donation.
Thank you. Jim Bottrill March 8
2007
In 2000 Jim Bottrill's wife Jo Ann was diagnosed with Primary Pulmonary Hypertension a disease that affects the small vessels
in the lungs where oxygen is exchanged in the blood; there is no cure short of a double lung heart transplant. One of the
side effects of PPH is that it causes the blood pressure in the lungs to go way up and eventually the heart just bursts from
the strain.
Jo Ann has no doctor in the town she lives but has to travel to Toronto to see her doctor a trip that costs about $100 every
time she and Jim go there.
On a recent trip to Toronto in November the family van blew its transmission and was towed home to Welland at a cost of $400.00,
they still have not been able to fix it. So they now have to travel by bus to see her doctor a trip that takes the whole day.
In order for Jo Ann to be put on the transplant list she has to get down to a certain weight which she is now almost at. But
the biggest hurdle for the Bottrill family will be getting a reliable vehicle so that they can get Jo Ann to the hospital
in Toronto when or if the call comes.
Jo Ann is on a medication called Remodulin, which she takes by continuous subcutaneous injections this means she is connected
to a small pager sized pump 24/7. She has a small infusion set(cathiter) the feeds the medication from the pump to the injection
site either in her upper arm or lower belly or her upper buttocks area. The injection site must be changed every 3 days so
she constantly has to rotate her injection sites, as they become very painful. Remodulin is a very expensive drug 1 vial costs
$9550.00 and she uses 2 vials a month. She also has to buy the infusion sets, reservoirs, and with her other supplies it costs
about $20,000 a month for everything. Unfortunately Jim has no drug benefits coverage any more.
Late in 2005 as a side effect of Jo Ann's illness she started to retain water in her legs and abdomen by December the doctors
figured she was carrying around about 50 lbs of excess water and she was put on water pills to get rid of the excess water.
Because of the water retention she was having a lot of trouble getting around and basically couldn't move outside the house
at all. Her legs where so swollen with water that when she got a scratch on her leg water started to seep out of the scratch.
Her doctor told her if she didn't loose the water to make her funeral arrangements. I am happy to say that she went from 200
lbs in December to 140 lbs in March that's 60 lbs of water that she was able to loose. She is now doing much better than she
was. But she still has to take a lot of pills to keep the water retention under control or she could end up back where she
was in December. Water retention is a side effect of both her illness and the drug that she is taking to combat her illness.
Jo Ann had to stop working because she would get short of breath and pass out whenever she exerted herself too much. She is
now on disability and gets only about $450 a month, Jim is employed as a security guard and they live on Jo Ann's income and
whatever he makes at work, he works 54 hrs a week. So as their bills started to pile up Jim looked for a way to get out of
debt and help his wife. He finally came up with the idea of writing a book. The book is called "THOUSANDS OF FREEBIES YOU
CAN GET ON THE INTERNET" it is a listing of over 2500 free items you can get by going online to the links listed and filling
out a form. This listing of freebies is also Canadian friendly, meaning that most of the items will be shipped to Canada.
So its not just another list of stuff that's only available in the U.S. All items will be shipped to you at no cost. There
are also links to download items, games, educational stuff, coupons and so on. It also has a list of 1-800 freebies those
are where you call a 1-800 # and they send you stuff also there is a list of 1-800's for companies that everyone uses if you
want to contact them to make a comment about their services or products. He sells the book in 3 formats, he can email you
a copy for $15, or he can mail you a CD version for $20. All moneys raised will be used to pay off the family's bills, fix
or replace the family vehicle since the vehicle is a 1996 ford areo star van and needs work, and generally to try to improve
the quality of life that Jo Ann has. Jim Is hoping that with enough publicity they can sell at least 10,000 copies, which
will pay off all the family debts, get them a reliable vehicle and pay for any other expenses for JO Ann.
If you would like to get a copy of this book or just help out in some way you can contact Jim by e-mail at jb_fuzzy@hotmail.com
or by going to the website set up to sell the book; http://jbfuzzy.tripod.com or you can send him a letter by writing to him;
This story was in a local paper |
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Here is a story by a local reporter about the book and why it was written |
Me and the book CD and Paper |
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Here is a picture that appeared in a local paper of me holding the CD version and the paper version |
Some of the freebies I have recieved |
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Some more of the freebies I have recieved |
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Some more of the freebies I have recieved |
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To learn more about Primary Pulmonary Hypertension click here.
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