Jason’s fight against Crohn’s
Donation protected
Please Help Jason Brackett’s Ongoing Fight With Crohn’s Disease
I am starting this for my husband, Jason, who has been living with Crohn’s disease since he was diagnosed at 21 years old, 16 years ago. A wonderful father, devoted husband, and all around loyal and genuine person. He is not the type of person to ask for help, which is why I am starting this on his behalf. He is currently living in constant dibilitating pain from Crohn’s, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
In January 2011, only 3 months after getting married, he was urgently hospitalized for increased pain and inability to walk. Tests and scans showed extensive, improperly managed Crohn’s disease with colonic ulcers with fistulas infiltrating into his abdominal cavity on the verge of sepsis. After many weeks of hospitalization with antibiotics and nourishment from a PICC line, he was finally stable enough for surgery to remove most of his colon. He lived months with a temporary ileostomy while his colon healed, during which he endured several complications and dropping down to a skeletal 120 lbs.

After his second surgical revision on the ileostomy site, he finally started to gain some weight and eventually was deemed stable enough for the ileostomy reversal.
Things finally started looking up for a few years. He was able to get bilateral hip implants due to degeneration of the joints from the Crohn’s related rheumatoid arthritis, allowing him to once again have some semblance of mobility, relatively pain free in comparison to before hip surgery. He also witnessed the birth of his first daughter in September 2014.
In January 2015, he was hospitalized again due to a Crohn’s flare.

Medications were changed and trialed, finally getting to a medication regimen that worked: Remicade infusions every 4-6 weeks. Finally he felt better! The Remicade worked for both his arthritis and Crohn’s. He was able to have a decent quality of life for several years. He even found his dream job managing a private road course, getting the privilege to drive all sort of cars from rare to expensive to vintage. In September 2017, his second daughter was born. Life was pretty good.

Well that is until 2018 came around. January 2018, Jason was hospitalized yet once again for a Crohn’s flare with partial blockage at his previous surgery site.

His gastroenterologist stated the medications he’d been taking (Remicade and oral meds) were no longer controlling his Crohn’s. It did however, work wonders for his arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. His gastroenterologist recommended changing to a medication called Stelara to help combat his Crohn’s. This is where his health rapidly declined. The Stelara apparently isn’t used for, nor helps with rheumatoid arthritis, but the doctor insisted it *could potentially* help. To start Stelara, he needed to discontinue Remicade. To spare the intracate details, over the course of several months, he stopped Remicade, started prednisone to help with the gap in medications, and trialed the Stelara. It did NOTHING for his Crohn’s, nothing for his arthritis, had several of the rare adverse reactions, and his quality of life went down the drain. Then the news he wasn’t told at the start of the Stelara trial... Remicade won’t work as well, if at all, when stopped for any length of time. He is currently back on Remicade, seeing diminishing returns, no where near the relief he was getting just a few months prior. And with all the red tape around pain medications, can’t get the pain relief he so desperately needs.
He he is now under the care of a new gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Crohn’s and Colitis in Boston. He was recommended he start an elemental diet to help bring down his body’s inflammation to a more manageable level, in hopes that it makes the Remicade more effective. I started this fundraiser initially to cover the elemental diet, as it wasn't covered by insurance, and was upwards to $65/day. Not to mention having already met the out of pocket maximum earlier this year with his insurance, expenses were starting to pile up.
UPDATE:
Thank everyone who donated, from the bottom of our hearts. He was on the diet for several months, unfortunately without marked improvement. Because it was so expensive, we decided to discontinue that in favor of a more traditional, limited, but wholesome diet.
Since we have met our funds goal, I will be continuing to update on CaringBridge.com https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jasonbrackett from here on out. Make sure to follow along to see his progress as we venture into the unknown world of clinical trials.

I am starting this for my husband, Jason, who has been living with Crohn’s disease since he was diagnosed at 21 years old, 16 years ago. A wonderful father, devoted husband, and all around loyal and genuine person. He is not the type of person to ask for help, which is why I am starting this on his behalf. He is currently living in constant dibilitating pain from Crohn’s, Ankylosing Spondylitis, and Rheumatoid Arthritis.
In January 2011, only 3 months after getting married, he was urgently hospitalized for increased pain and inability to walk. Tests and scans showed extensive, improperly managed Crohn’s disease with colonic ulcers with fistulas infiltrating into his abdominal cavity on the verge of sepsis. After many weeks of hospitalization with antibiotics and nourishment from a PICC line, he was finally stable enough for surgery to remove most of his colon. He lived months with a temporary ileostomy while his colon healed, during which he endured several complications and dropping down to a skeletal 120 lbs.
After his second surgical revision on the ileostomy site, he finally started to gain some weight and eventually was deemed stable enough for the ileostomy reversal.
Things finally started looking up for a few years. He was able to get bilateral hip implants due to degeneration of the joints from the Crohn’s related rheumatoid arthritis, allowing him to once again have some semblance of mobility, relatively pain free in comparison to before hip surgery. He also witnessed the birth of his first daughter in September 2014.
In January 2015, he was hospitalized again due to a Crohn’s flare.
Medications were changed and trialed, finally getting to a medication regimen that worked: Remicade infusions every 4-6 weeks. Finally he felt better! The Remicade worked for both his arthritis and Crohn’s. He was able to have a decent quality of life for several years. He even found his dream job managing a private road course, getting the privilege to drive all sort of cars from rare to expensive to vintage. In September 2017, his second daughter was born. Life was pretty good.
Well that is until 2018 came around. January 2018, Jason was hospitalized yet once again for a Crohn’s flare with partial blockage at his previous surgery site.
His gastroenterologist stated the medications he’d been taking (Remicade and oral meds) were no longer controlling his Crohn’s. It did however, work wonders for his arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis. His gastroenterologist recommended changing to a medication called Stelara to help combat his Crohn’s. This is where his health rapidly declined. The Stelara apparently isn’t used for, nor helps with rheumatoid arthritis, but the doctor insisted it *could potentially* help. To start Stelara, he needed to discontinue Remicade. To spare the intracate details, over the course of several months, he stopped Remicade, started prednisone to help with the gap in medications, and trialed the Stelara. It did NOTHING for his Crohn’s, nothing for his arthritis, had several of the rare adverse reactions, and his quality of life went down the drain. Then the news he wasn’t told at the start of the Stelara trial... Remicade won’t work as well, if at all, when stopped for any length of time. He is currently back on Remicade, seeing diminishing returns, no where near the relief he was getting just a few months prior. And with all the red tape around pain medications, can’t get the pain relief he so desperately needs.
He he is now under the care of a new gastroenterologist at Brigham and Women’s Crohn’s and Colitis in Boston. He was recommended he start an elemental diet to help bring down his body’s inflammation to a more manageable level, in hopes that it makes the Remicade more effective. I started this fundraiser initially to cover the elemental diet, as it wasn't covered by insurance, and was upwards to $65/day. Not to mention having already met the out of pocket maximum earlier this year with his insurance, expenses were starting to pile up.
UPDATE:
Thank everyone who donated, from the bottom of our hearts. He was on the diet for several months, unfortunately without marked improvement. Because it was so expensive, we decided to discontinue that in favor of a more traditional, limited, but wholesome diet.
Since we have met our funds goal, I will be continuing to update on CaringBridge.com https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jasonbrackett from here on out. Make sure to follow along to see his progress as we venture into the unknown world of clinical trials.
Organizer and beneficiary
Jennifer Brackett
Organizer
Hiram, ME
Jason Brackett
Beneficiary