In memory of Johnny "Jonell" Young

Dear friends of colleagues of Jackie Young,

Jackie's beloved dad, Mr. Johnny "Jonell" Young, has passed away after a long struggle with his illness. I am setting up this fundraiser to help Jackie's family in this difficult time. Please pass this link to your friends and help Jackie in covering some of the immediate expenses in celebrating the life of her dad, who passed away after a long fight with his illness.

In the words of Jackie, "I can’t even begin to explain about my daddee! He was a dad that didn’t believe in being idle. He was a very quiet guy that loved my mom dearly! My dad raised us on a farm in Boykin Alabama. He taught us everything we know about farming life. My dad have four children, 3 girls and 1 son. He raised us to be self sufficient such as, driving a tractor, picking cotton, pulling corn for the cows, using a chain saw, riding horse, raising goats, hunting for food in the winter time and driving a manual speed vehicle. When he was teaching us to drive a manual, he would tell us “if you can’t drive a stick shift, you can’t drive because anyone can hold car in the road (automatic). There were no sleeping in on the weekend either. He would already be sitting on the porch at 5:30 in the morning waiting on breakfast so we can go into the field/garden to work and stay there until 11:30 A.M. He would only rest late into the evenings or on Sundays. These were some of his daily task until he came down with COPD some years back. We could tell the illness change some of his everyday activities and it slowed him down due to the lack of oxygen he was getting into his lungs. As the years went by, his lungs got progressively worse. His lung function went from 50% to 17% over a years’ time. He went back and forth to the lung doctor and they provided him with a Bipap machine to help with his oxygen intake. This machine brought my dad lung function back to 25%, which was a blessing. My mom became ill with stage 3 colon cancer and throughout the entire time my mom was going back and forth for treatments and hospital stays, my dad didn’t get sick not one time. He helped her as much as he could with his debilitating illness. On September 11th my dad got sick and was taken to the hospital. He didn’t want to stay and the doctor discharged him to go home. That night he was having issues with his breathing, took a turn for the worse and the ambulance was called. My parents stay in a very rural area and it took the ambulance more than an hour to get to him and another hour and a half to get him to the hospital. His organs was crashing, so he gave the doctors the ok to put him on the ventilator. He was place in a coma so to give his heart a break due to the stress of no oxygen. On 9/13, he was removed from the ventilator, but had to be placed back on it 2 hours later. With this ongoing issue, his kidneys failed and he had to have dialysis, but the hospital didn’t have a doctor to put in a port for dialysis. From 9/13 thru 9/28, my dad almost died 3 times. We spoke to a rep at Regency and we finally found a hospital that he could go that would be able to put in the port and wean him off the ventilator. We were told that they didn’t have any hospitality lodging and we would have to pay out of pocket for any and all hotel stays. We would do anything to help and prolong my father’s life. So on 9/29, the ambulance pick him up to take him to Meridian Mississippi. We told my dad that we would be there every step of the way. So off we go! After they loaded him up and we were following behind the ambulance, all sudden it made a U-turn heading back to the hospital we just left. They rushed my dad back up to ICU. They told us the ventilator on the ambulance had stopped working! My dad almost died again that day. They kept him overnight and then decided to fly him out. We requested that they totally sedate my dad before transport. ( he’s never flown in a plane and is petrified to do). They wouldn’t and told us that it was only a 40 minutes ride on the helicopter. We watch them load him on and saw that he was physically shaking. During the flight he had a seizure and they put him under mid seizure. When we reach Regency hospital, he was in a room and still under sedation. We sat in the room with him so he would know we were there like we told him we would be. He seems to be getting better but was still dependent on the ventilator. The doctor recommended that he had a tracheostomy and it would help wean him off the ventilator. So on 10/6, he had the procedure done. The vent tube was removed from his mouth and connected to his throat. Things seemed to be working out and he would write on a notebook to let us know he was hungry and wanted to eat. But in order to eat, he had to be able to breath on his own for a full 24 hours before they deflated the bulb that was attached to the trach in his airway. My dad couldn’t get pass 18 hours of straight breathing on his own. It put a strain on his heart, which causes the heart rate to accelerate to 160 beats per minutes. His blood pressure would drop too low and they would turn the vent back on. Friday October 21st was a day for him to have dialysis, which takes 3 to 4 hour to complete. We told my dad that we would take Morn back home to Alabama so she can look around the house and gather fresh clothes. When we return on Saturday October 22, daddee didn’t look so well, but he waved and gave thumbs up to us like he normally does indicating everything was ok. His breathing was a little erratic, so they turn the ventilator back and told him to let it breath for him. We told him to close his eyes and rest, we was right there beside him. After a few hours, he woke up and looked a little rested. During all this time, he was still in ICU so we couldn’t spend the night with him. Sunday morning when we went to visit him, the door was closed and the charge nurse said we couldn’t go in. When we were allowed, my dad was unresponsive and we were told that he had suffered a stroke the prior night and his lung function was 0%. All his organs was shutting down. Within the next 30 minutes, my dad had passed. This has been one of the most hardest thing I’ve had to face! My dad was in my life for 50 years! God saw fit to allow this much time and I’m appreciative of it. He was a good man of value that knew God and I’m soo proud to call him my Daddee!!"