Brother’s Medical Expenses and Recovery

My name is Jesse and I’m asking for donations to help with my brother Josh’s medical expenses. He’s struggled with walking for a few years now, and after much goading, I finally convinced him to seek help from a doctor. I originally thought his hip pain originated from a pinched nerve or maybe a ruptured disc, but after the hospital seen him and then him being referred to Ortho MT, it turns out he needs to have both of his hips replaced. The joint tissue in both hips is completely gone and each hip socket is just bone on bone grinding. The surgeon said Josh has the worst arthritis he’s seen in someone his age. Josh is 43. At that appointment we were told he would need to get his teeth fixed first (to prevent infections), quit smoking, and he would have to pay half of the surgery costs in advance or find a job that would offer him insurance. He was turned down for Medicaid because he made too much money working as a part time dishwasher.

He hasn’t been able to bend over to tie his own shoes for over two years now. His mobility is severely hindered, he can still walk, but it’s more of a hobble -he can barely go up or down stairs and doesn’t remember the last time he could run. This disability has limited the kind of work he can do, but after a year he was able to find a full time dishwashing job that offered health benefits. He has gotten his teeth fixed, quit smoking, and finally gotten the surgery scheduled for March 4th, but first he has to pass a final the medical screening.

The average recovery time of a hip replacement surgery is around 6 weeks. If he is healthy enough at that time, then he’ll be eligible for the 2nd hip replacement. So depending on how things go, he’ll most likely be out of work for 3 months at the end of which he’ll have a very large medical bill to pay off. It’s been a year since the original quote, but the average cost of a hip replacement is $18000 ($36000 for both), because he has insurance he should only be responsible for his deductible of $5000.

I’m asking for donations to help meet his deductible and help him stay afloat during his 3 month recovery. Any donations are greatly appreciated. Thanks for caring.