Jason Eby

As many of you know, Jason was admitted to the University of MN in late June while fighting something unknown.

Backstory: Jason developed a cough in February of this year. In the following months, the cough progressively worsened until it became difficult to breathe, he had pain all over his body, and he lost weight and muscle. Jason was in and out of hospitals and had a gauntlet of blood tests run (142 alone at one hospital, during a 6-day visit). All test results continued to come back the same: Negative.

It was truly unknown what he was fighting… but it was taking his life with each passing day.

Fast forward to June: Jason was back in MN for his father’s funeral. By this time, his health had continued to decline until he was at a point where he couldn’t walk without assistance.

Tuesday, June 20th, he was taken to the ER after coughing up blood and was admitted to the hospital. Jason had an AMAZING team of doctors working on him, running tests and trying to find the culprit for all this. Eventually, he was transferred to the ICU where he would remain in critical condition.

The decision was made that Jason would need a Bilateral Lung Transplant in order to live. 

On Thursday, July 13th at about 2:30pm, Jason was placed on the Transplant list.
On Friday, July 14th at about 6:00pm, less than 30hrs later, the call came in: “WE HAVE LUNGS!”
On Saturday, July 15th just before 8:00am, Jason was wheeled out to the OR to get his new lungs.
On Tuesday, July 18th Jason took his first breath with his new lungs.

Jason has overcome so much, and he continues to impress his team of doctors with the progress he’s made! Prior to this, Jason had no medical history. The diagnosis that was landed on by doctors for this: Interstitial Lung Disease. 

Jason’s goal right now is to get strength back so that he can walk on his own. And in true Jason form, he’s doing all of this with determination and a smile… A Chick-Fil-A kids meal bribe doesn’t hurt either.

Up until now, Jason and Liz were hesitant about doing a GoFundMe. In fact, Jason would be the first to give the shirt off his back, and the last to ask for help. However, they know that Jason still has a long road ahead of him… and they know they can’t do this on their own. So, they have given me the go ahead to get this rolling for them.

Many have reached out and asked how they can help: They are going to need help with financials.

Any donations to them will go towards and help them with their monthly bills, getting to/from doctor’s appointments, their kids, and just the day-to-day items that will be needed.

Jason has been out of work since May, and it’s unknown if he will be able to return to work. Liz has been with Jason in MN and was out of work for a while as well.

Over the next year, Jason and Liz will need to travel to MN for many follow-up appointments with Transplant Doctors, Physical Therapists, etc… and many more blood draws. Jason’s favorite!

It would be great to be able to take some stress off them so they can focus on getting Jason back to health.