John Perez Hospice Fund

For the past 5.5 years, JP has been battling a rare neuromuscular autoimmune disease. After too many MRIs, spinal taps and blood tests to count, he has been diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis/CIDP (a chronic form of Guillian-Barre Syndrome). During this time, JP has continued to fill his position on Squad 1A, always giving 110% effort. Despite many trips to the hospital he has continued to do the job he loves with his fellow OCFRD family.
He has tried many different treatments for this disease. The problem with rare diseases like this is that you never know what is going to work, and every treatment comes with side effects. The most recent treatment was a chemotherapy medication. It turns out that he was allergic to it and has had some very significant side effects that may last for a while. This means JP is not able to return to work. That brings us to the subject of fundraising. Those of you who know JP, you know he has a hard time asking for help (basically, he NEVER asks for help). He likes to be the one helping. He is also a very private person and it is hard for him to talk about this. 

Besides being a badass Squad Tech, JP is a husband to Rachel (for 23 years she has put up with him!) and a father to Ayana and Reyna. Both girls are in college. Rachel is a nurse at ORMC and has had the privilege of helping to care for many of the OCFRD family during her 14 years there. The entire Perez family loves and appreciates everything the firefighter brothers and sisters, as well as their ORMC family  have done and will continue to do to support their family.