Help Save Omar Valencia's Life

Omar Valencia had been diagnosed with a rare, non-curable, chronic auto immune disease called Dermatomyositis
(Dur-muh-toe-my-uh-SY-tis), and needs your help to fight for his life.  His immune system is attacking itself - He needs very expensive medication in order to live, and has not been able to work for 6 months now.

Omar Valencia is a friend and co-worker, and we want to help him in the fight for his life.  Omar is a very proud person who has never asked anyone for anything, and would never ask for help - but he would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it - so we (his friends) are asking for help for him!

Omar started not feeling well sometime in November. He was constantly tired and his body ached all the time. After about a month, other symptoms arose - he started having headaches, his eyes would swell and developed a rash. Omar had to leave work in December to go home to Florida to take care of his health.

In January, Omar was rushed to the hospital and almost died, he went into “a fib” several times ..... and he is still fighting for his life today.

It took many doctors months to figure out what was wrong. He had an infection of the lungs that the doctors never did determine what it was or the cause, but thankfully the infection is now gone.   However, something much worse was about to be diagnosed.

During the past 6 months, Omar has been in & out of the hospital, sometimes admitted for weeks at a time.  To this day, Omar has weekly doctor visits and lab tests,.... and all of this without the benefit of health insurance for the first 3 months. He was able to get some sort of health insurance in March, but it’s not great and the deductible is very high. The hospital bills are enormous, and his medication is very expensive and not covered by insurance.

The cause of Dermatomyositis is unknown, but the disease has much in common with auto immune disorders, in which your immune system mistakenly attacks your body tissues.
Small blood vessels in muscular tissue are particularly affected in dermatomyositis. Inflammatory cells surround the blood vessels and eventually lead to destruction of muscle fibers.

There is no cure for Dermatomyositis, but periods of symptom improvement (remission) can occur. With medication, he could go into remission permanently.  Omar has many issues right now:
Skin changes - A violet colored or dusky red rash develops, most commonly on your face and eyelids and on knuckles, elbows,knees, chest and back. The rash is itchy and painful.
Muscle weakness - Progressive muscle weakness involves the muscles closest to the trunk, such as those in your hips, thighs, shoulders, upper arms and neck. The weakness affects both the left and right sides of your body, and tends to gradually worsen.

Omar’s is plagued with constant, excruciating pain. Every joint in his body is painful beyond what you can imagine.  The condition has affected his chest muscles and he has difficulty breathing, and now has to be on oxygen 24/7. He said taking 6 steps is so difficult to breath it feels as if his heart is in his hands.

He has difficulty swallowing, shortness of breath, painful & itchy rash all over his body, blisters on his finger tips and hands, chronic fatigue, lung capacity went from 80% to now 41%, he cannot speak for very long - only a few minutes at a time because he simply cannot breathe and it hurts his throat to talk.  Due to his constant fatigue - he falls asleep very easily and sometimes sleeps for 20-23 hours at a time.

Omar wants and needs to get better, and definitely wants a quality of life and to be able to work again.

Omar must have 2 separate injections and will need to take them for a minimum of 3 months, possibly 6 months or longer : 
1st injection - costs $4200 for 28 days - not covered by any insurance.
2nd injection - 2x/week for 3 months - cost is $1400/ 3month supply

Unfortunately, this is the only medicine that can help  Omar get back to living as normal of a life as he can.

He has been to a lot of specialists trying to get a diagnosis, Pulmonologist, dermatologist, hematologist, cardiologist, rheumatologist, infectologist, laryngologist, and probably a few other's I am missing in that list- all of those doctors visits quickly add up.  Emergency Room Visits & hospital in-patient stays are in the thousands....

Omar has no income, as he cannot work right now and it is not known when he will be able to return to work. He has not worked during the past 5 months of his illness. The savings he had is almost gone, and we don’t know how he will be able to pay for his medicine, doctor bills, or even his monthly rent/living expenses.   

Anyone who knows Omar knows that he is a very prideful man who does not like asking anyone for help, especially financial help. However, it’s different when help means the difference between living or dying. And he needs this medicine to live.   So Please - anything you could donate to help Omar be able to get the medicine he needs to live, and be able to live a normal life again would be great and very much appreciated!

We will keep you posted on his progress.