Help Giwrgos Walk Again

My name is Ioanna Savvidou and I am fundraising for my loving friend Giwrgos Vagiannidis.

Giwrgos Vagiannidis, 26, is from and currently resides in a small town of Northern Greece, Katerini.

On September 1st Giwrgos received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine at around 4pm.

Per normal post vaccine procedure Giwrgos was told to wait 15 minutes and report any symptoms or issues he may have after receiving the vaccine. At that time, Giwrgos didn’t report any issues.

Later at around 10pm he started experiencing a fever which at the moment he thought wasn’t concerning, however his fever continued to increase. By 4am his fever had reached 103.8 and thats when he was rushed to the General Hospital of Katerini.

As soon as he arrived to Katerini Hospital he began to experience extreme pain followed by numbness in both legs. Katerini Hospital urgently transferred him to the nearest neurologist located at Papanikolaou Hospital in Thessaloniki due to a neurologist shortage; which was about 2 hours away. By the time he arrived to Papanikolaou Hospital Thessaloniki, he had lost complete mobility in both his legs.

The same morning around 7am he was seen by 6 different doctors and he was told by both the Pathologist and Neurologist they’re was nothing abnormal about his exams, however he still had loss of all mobility and sensation in his legs.

He was later admitted to Papanikolaou Hospital for 3 weeks so they could monitor him. While he was there they preformed 4 MRIs, 2 EMGs, 1 CT scan and a 24 hour EEG. At that point they still couldn’t reach a diagnosis so they decided to discharge him. They also denied him a referral for treatment at a Rehab center and any physical therapy.

At this point he took it upon himself to begin treatment at Evexia Rehab Center in Thessaloniki. To this day he has completed 18 days of treatment, which he paid for out of pocket with the only savings he had. He has already seen slight improvement.

His doctors strongly urge him to stay another month, however, the price of this facility is beyond any average Greek citizens means of $100 a day.

Giwrgos has not been receiving any form of disability, unemployment or government help and has been out of work for 2 months with no sign of being able to return anytime soon without continued treatment.

Giwrgos has no means to pay for this facility anymore or any form of financial support since both his parents passed in recent years.

All donations made through GoFundMe will be given to Giwrgos Vagiannidis directly and will be used towards his rehab treatment and lost wages.