
I am fundraising on behalf of my brother Tosco, who is very ill and needs life saving medical treatment. He has sickle cell disease, so he's always been kind of sick but 8yrs ago, he was also diagnosed with Lupus and his kidneys began to fail & now he has end stage renal failure. Due to all of that, he began having seizures as well & he cant keep his hemoglobin up. He needs a kidney and bone marrow transplant but since he cant keep his hemoglobin up, he was taken off of the transplant list because he isnt healthy enough to have them. He requires blood transfusions about every 2wks. Even with multiple blood transfusions, he's still unable to keep his hemoglobin up, nothing is working so its causing him to constantly have sickle cell crisis', which causes very severe & debilitating pain. He's in the hospital more than he is home. He's had multiple surgeries on his arm, where he had a fistula so he can get dialysis but after about 10 surgeries on that same arm, it got infected & left a huge hole in his arm. He's only 43yrs old and he can barely go up a flight of steps without stopping to catch his breath or needing to use his oxygen, once he gets to the top. Just 3 days ago, the FDA approved Oxbryta,

a new medication for sickle cell patients, that he has been waiting for, for over a year. This medication will allow his hemoglobin to go up, therefore he wont keep having so much pain, he wont constantly need transfusions & most importantly, he will be able to get back on the transplant list so he can have his kidney & bone marrow transplants. Today is Thanksgiving & he's in the hospital, but I'm hoping he will be healthy enough to spend Christmas at home with his family. His doctors say this medication is a game changer & will allow him to have some sort of life again cause right now, he has no energy, he's unable to do anything. His whole life consists of going to the doctors, dialysis, hospital or laying in bed. He just became a grandfather & wants to spend time with his daughter & grandson but he isnt able to travel, so he's only seen him once. We dont want him in the hospital for Christmas., it wont be the same. This fundraiser is to help him cover his medicines, medical bills, therapy or anything else that his insurance wont pay for. Hes been sick for 9yrs so his medical bills are astronomical so any help would be appreciated. As you donate, please say a prayer for him as well. God bless you all. ... Graphic images so if u get sick at the sight of blood, skip the pics

This arm has been operated on about 10 times. This is just one of the things he has to deal with


Thanksgiving was not the same without him being home.

