Help Jerry Get Life Altering Procedure
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Dear Friend,
I would like to share with you a story of tragedy, hope and triumph in hopes of gaining your support.
My son Jerry MacCallister is a 23 year old boy form the San Lorenzo Valley in California. Jerry spent his whole life working toward one goal, becoming an astronaut. Jerry maintained a 4.1 or better GPA and was a few lessons shy of obtaining his private pilot's license before graduating high school. Jerry completed his first semester of college at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach Florida studying Aerospace Engineering and participated in the Navy ROTC and Color Guard.
On January 2, 2009 Jerry was in a dirt biking accident which left him a C4 Quadriplegic. Our lives were changed forever in a blink of an eye, his dreams and life's work shattered in an instant. Imagine if you will what life would be like being 100% dependent, you cannot feed yourself, bath or dress, go to the bathroom or even scratch an itch. Relying on others for absolutely everything has become Jerry's reality. Jerry spent just six weeks in the hospital and has made enormous strides toward recovery. Initially Jerry was paralyzed from the shoulders down however through intensive therapy four days a week Jerry has recovered enough movement in his arms to drive his power wheelchair. This accomplishment was the result of hundreds of hours of therapy. Jerry's fight is not over; we will always keep hope alive that he WILL walk again.
On April 22, 2012 Jerry had an equally tragic event, he experienced Autonomic Dysreflexia, his autonomic system went out of whack causing a 107 degree temperature. Jerry seizured and fell into a coma for 8 days, he was in a vegetative state for 2 weeks after coming out of the coma. Jerry spent 10 weeks in the hospital and lost all the mobility he had worked so hard to gain over the last 3 years. As a result of the temperature Jerry suffered brain damage, he had to relearn everything from how to breathe on his own, talk, tell time, even eat. It's been almost a year and Jerry has made incredible improvements however he hasn't fully recovered which makes it more imperative now than ever to pursue stem cell therapy.
Bieke Biotech is the leading provider of stem cells in China and Thailand, unfortunately the US is decades behind other countries in this field. Stem Cells can be a very controversial topic and being a Christian with a disabled child I understand both points of view on the topic. One of the exciting things about this stem cell procedure is they do not use embryonic stem cells. The procedure is done using stem cells derived from umbilical cord which alleviates the moral dilemma. This brings me to the purpose of this letter, Jerry is scheduled to undergo stem cell therapy in Thailand July 1 - Aug 9, 2013. Jerry will finally be getting stem cell therapy. Two years ago we began working with Bieke Biotech, initially Jerry was accepted into the program and assigned to a facility in Beijing China. With the cost of procedure and travel expenses exceeding $40,000 we were only able to raise 1/4 of the cost so unfortunately we had to cancel. After Jerry's brain injury it became more critical than ever to try stem cell therapy. I reached the conclusion that I must proceed with plans to go and have faith that it will all come together. We started the application process and Jerry was once again accepted into the program however with the addition of the head injury it was felt that Bangkok Thailand was a more appropriate fit. We have so much hope that stem cell therapy will help Jerry become more independent and we will do whatever it takes to get Jerry to Thailand. Won't you please consider making a donation to support Jerry on his journey to Thailand? With your help he can be triumphant.
Sincerely,
Katie MacCallister
You can help by clicking the donate button or if you prefer 100% of your donation to go to Jerry you can send a check made out to: Jerry MacCallister Assistance Fund
send to:
Jerry MacCallister
162 McPheeters Cir
Boulder Creek CA 95006
I would like to share with you a story of tragedy, hope and triumph in hopes of gaining your support.
My son Jerry MacCallister is a 23 year old boy form the San Lorenzo Valley in California. Jerry spent his whole life working toward one goal, becoming an astronaut. Jerry maintained a 4.1 or better GPA and was a few lessons shy of obtaining his private pilot's license before graduating high school. Jerry completed his first semester of college at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach Florida studying Aerospace Engineering and participated in the Navy ROTC and Color Guard.
On January 2, 2009 Jerry was in a dirt biking accident which left him a C4 Quadriplegic. Our lives were changed forever in a blink of an eye, his dreams and life's work shattered in an instant. Imagine if you will what life would be like being 100% dependent, you cannot feed yourself, bath or dress, go to the bathroom or even scratch an itch. Relying on others for absolutely everything has become Jerry's reality. Jerry spent just six weeks in the hospital and has made enormous strides toward recovery. Initially Jerry was paralyzed from the shoulders down however through intensive therapy four days a week Jerry has recovered enough movement in his arms to drive his power wheelchair. This accomplishment was the result of hundreds of hours of therapy. Jerry's fight is not over; we will always keep hope alive that he WILL walk again.
On April 22, 2012 Jerry had an equally tragic event, he experienced Autonomic Dysreflexia, his autonomic system went out of whack causing a 107 degree temperature. Jerry seizured and fell into a coma for 8 days, he was in a vegetative state for 2 weeks after coming out of the coma. Jerry spent 10 weeks in the hospital and lost all the mobility he had worked so hard to gain over the last 3 years. As a result of the temperature Jerry suffered brain damage, he had to relearn everything from how to breathe on his own, talk, tell time, even eat. It's been almost a year and Jerry has made incredible improvements however he hasn't fully recovered which makes it more imperative now than ever to pursue stem cell therapy.
Bieke Biotech is the leading provider of stem cells in China and Thailand, unfortunately the US is decades behind other countries in this field. Stem Cells can be a very controversial topic and being a Christian with a disabled child I understand both points of view on the topic. One of the exciting things about this stem cell procedure is they do not use embryonic stem cells. The procedure is done using stem cells derived from umbilical cord which alleviates the moral dilemma. This brings me to the purpose of this letter, Jerry is scheduled to undergo stem cell therapy in Thailand July 1 - Aug 9, 2013. Jerry will finally be getting stem cell therapy. Two years ago we began working with Bieke Biotech, initially Jerry was accepted into the program and assigned to a facility in Beijing China. With the cost of procedure and travel expenses exceeding $40,000 we were only able to raise 1/4 of the cost so unfortunately we had to cancel. After Jerry's brain injury it became more critical than ever to try stem cell therapy. I reached the conclusion that I must proceed with plans to go and have faith that it will all come together. We started the application process and Jerry was once again accepted into the program however with the addition of the head injury it was felt that Bangkok Thailand was a more appropriate fit. We have so much hope that stem cell therapy will help Jerry become more independent and we will do whatever it takes to get Jerry to Thailand. Won't you please consider making a donation to support Jerry on his journey to Thailand? With your help he can be triumphant.
Sincerely,
Katie MacCallister
You can help by clicking the donate button or if you prefer 100% of your donation to go to Jerry you can send a check made out to: Jerry MacCallister Assistance Fund
send to:
Jerry MacCallister
162 McPheeters Cir
Boulder Creek CA 95006
Organizer
Katie MacCallister
Organizer
Boulder Creek, CA