Please Share and Help Jay fight his disease
Donation protected
UPDATED MAY, 2019
My friend: Jaye Eryk ("Jay Bird") is a writer / filmmaker and photographer whose dedicated his life to help the homeless, abused children and the environment has been battling with Ulcerative Colitis for over 28 years (As of Aug 23, 2020).
Many people may not consider Ulcerative Colitis / IBD & Crohn's Disease to be as serious and/or life threatening as they are. In severe enough cases such as Jaye's; it can potentially lead to colon cancer, sepsis and even death! C-diff is also common with this disease and Jaye has been hospitalized three times for that. C-diff alone kills 30,000 people a year within 30 days if not discovered and treated immediately and the symptoms of it are indiscernible from the disease itself. If you are unfamiliar with ulcerative colitis; it is (in severe cases) dozens to thousands of bleeding ulcerations (open sores) in the colon/large intestine. You get very nauseous and dizzy, vomiting & fever are not uncommon. You bleed internally and then bleed externally. The cramping that you feel is absolutely excruciating and going to the bathroom can be so painful (think of labor pain type contractions in the gut) that you often, whimper, cry, moan and can even pass out. Someone very close to me died from uc and I suffer with it as well. Jaye is a dear friend and his case is extremely serious, the worst I've seen! I know that Jaye isn't the sort of person to ask for help, so I set up this Gofundme for him because I don't want to lose him too.
The disease has left him struggling for his life; leaving him not only physically (chronic pain) & mentally tormented (major depression, anxiety, stress) but morally & financially bankrupt. Over the past few years he's lost his home, his car and most of his belongings having to sell off his bedroom and other furniture, jewelry, and even camera lenses required to earn an income when he's well (just so he could pay for GI visits, hospitalizations and medicines as he had no health insurance). In fact, this continued well into the creation of this GFM page; the amount you see listed (what we have raised so far) isn't what Jaye currently has available. Because we were unable to raise the funds right away, it was imperative that Jaye see Gastroenterologists or he would not have survived long enough to meet the goal of this page. Those GI visits cost $319 EACH and that didn't include his medications, lab work & procedures which were many (and expensive).
Unable to work and dealing with multiple and lengthy hospitalizations one after the other over the past few years with none of the medications that Dr's have tried working; (Asacol, Apriso, Lialda, Humira etc... & even chemo) his body is literally shutting down. Although you can live a long life with this disease (in mild to moderate cases) if the medications do not work and they're not a candidate for surgery, Ulcerative Colitis is a death sentence. Jaye has ended the year + long chemotherapy for this condition because it too, hasn't worked, and it's taking quite a toll on him, leaving him with extreme dizziness, nausea, fingers that won't bend and that he can't use most of the day (see video above) he is so crippled by it that he can barely make it to the bathroom in time when attacks occur (and sometimes doesn't).
(A quick backstory: In 1998, Jaye came across a holistic Dr. (which he was not a believer in at the time) but it was his moms idea and he so he listened to her; to his surprise it miraculously saved his life from this disease that at the time nearly killed him. His holistic Dr. after just 4 visits got him into a near 17 year remission!!! It was during this time that Jaye completed his college education and began his career in film/tv.
That was until November of 2015 when he started getting sick again. Living paycheck to paycheck (as many of us do) Jaye fought through the discomfort (running to the bathroom (15 - 20) times a day) bleeding profusely and with severe pain to continue working, but by June of 2016 he was so sick that he could no longer care for himself and he had no family or anyone to help him. Defeated, he made the decision to take a break and fly to North Carolina from South Florida to be with family for a couple of weeks, hoping that rest and care would ease the symptoms a bit, allowing him to go back to Florida and back to work. . Only, things continued to worsen for him and he was not able to leave. He lost 30 pounds and so much blood that standing was nearly impossible, and by September he was immediately admitted to the hospital.
He was hospitalized in Florida for a few days just prior to leaving and now again in North Carolina. Without being able to work or get well, Jaye couldn't get back to Florida. He had very little in savings and was paying for a residence that he wasn't living in and not only lost his home; but a few months later his car as well. Everything the Dr's tried, failed. his body resistant to every medication. Jaye has done everything he could to pay for all these expenses on his own; he sold off what few belongings he had left (since his storage unit was auctioned off, he lost everything else) now completely depleted of not just his finances, but his assets as well.
Unfortunately, because of all he's been through, he's financially unable to go see his Dr. back in South Florida, which (at this point) is his only saving grace. Either her or someone like her. He listened to every local Doctor. He did what they asked of him, but his body continues to reject the medicines and he's been on 40 - 60mg of Prednisone daily (and up to 250mg/day in the hospital) for three years! Every attempt to ween off at home has landed him back in the hospital. On multiple occasions with C-diff as well.
The Prednisone was the only thing keeping Jaye alive and it's such a dangerous medication, that he's suffering greatly with many of its nasty side effects including, but not limited to severe joint/muscular pain, blurred vision, insomnia, dizziness, tiredness, depression, headaches and hurts the bodies ability to fight off infection. Combine that with an auto-immune disease and Jaye is frequently sick and struggles to ever get well! In fact, Jaye had been complaining of chronic and worsening knee pain; a recent MRI revealed Avascular Necrosis in several areas (Rotting bones caused by Prednisone). Knowing that the ulcerative colitis would worsen, he chose to stop the Prednisone since walking has now become nearly impossible.
To complicate matters further, in August 2018 after 5 months of non-stop coughing, Jaye was just diagnosed with Pulmonary Embolisms (Blood Clots in both of his lungs and is now on blood thinners which is exacerbating his bleeding condition with ulcerative colitis as well as complicates testing such as colonoscopies and potential surgeries).
Additionally, Jaye has severe injuries to his back. 8 herniated and bulging discs, some pinching nerves, spinal stenosis, degenerative arthritis of the spine, spondylosis, damage to his Atlas vertebrae and most recently (Oct 2018) 2 crushed vertebrae (in other words, a broken back) which happened because he was trying to help his mom move boxes after Hurricane Florence caused significant damage to their home. It would be a gross understatement to say that he is in chronic severe pain every day, he can't sleep at night, is suffering greatly and just a victim of rotten luck! ADDENDUM: Jaye has since been diagnosed with osteoporosis as a result of excessive Prednisone use to treat his ulcerative colitis. This has resulted in a multitude of recurring broken vertebrae! In 2020, Jaye has 6 broken vertebrae and a wedge fracture and scoliosis.
When he can work; Jaye donates his time & talent to many non-profit organizations, he helps others, even creating TV series to help the environment, the homeless and abused children, but has been unable to pursue that dream because of his failing health. Jaye knows he needs assistance, but has a hard time asking for it. He didn't want to start a GoFundMe account on his own, so I felt compelled to do one for him and to provide you all with as much information I can.
Aside from financial aid (which of course is why we're here) if you, or someone you know has any methods to help this page go viral and outside of our limited social circles, it would be gratefully & humbly appreciated! Fiverr / Social marketers etc... Be sure to read the updates for things Jaye may have already tried. I know he attempts to update frequently with pictures and video's. If you really want the full scope of how his life has gone since the creation of this page, please read his many updates.
If you are able to donate, THANK YOU! That's awesome!!! If not, that's perfectly fine too, though I ask that everyone at least help by SHARING this page on your social media accounts (Facebook, blog, Twitter, Instagram etc...) and ask others (friends and family and coworkers) to share it on theirs... it's so important! Even at church, school, synogogue, and not just once, but repeatedly so that it is seen. Talk about it with others, people need to see this page and read his story. The more eyes we can get on here, the better the chances of our campaign being a success! I know that together we can save a person's life! A little care can go a long way.
Anyone with Ulcerative Colitis is already at a higher risk than most for colon cancer. With such severe inflammation in Jaye's colon and large intestine especially over the course of 4+ years!!! That risk goes up exponentially!!!
Please help in any way that you can.
~Namasté
To breakdown the $10,000 (which is the starting goal, hopefully we can surpass it).
Jaye has nearly died several times recently; in 2018; in February, nearly again the following month and later in the year, again in 2019 and twice during the first half of 2020. He is nothing if not a fighter, but he is not out of the woods yet.
The funds do NOT include any of Jaye's losses (Home, car, belongings etc...) it is to literally save his life addressing this immediate and dire health concern. Ulcerative Colitis. Once he can get that into remission, I pray that Jaye can slowly get his other health issues taken care of and soon after back on his feet!
This includes 3 or 4 (hopefully more) visits to see his holistic Dr. back in Florida so he can be treated. As she is a medical Dr., Legally she must physically 'see' him within a 3 year span to treat him. She'll have to see Jay at least once, likely twice, and we're hoping that 2 of the visits would be by telephone to save money, but still a charged visit. Visits may include blood work, procedures possibly as well,
This is where Jaye would be going and whom he would be seeing.
www.mackeyhealth.com
The donations are going directly toward his visits, his treatments (including any and all updated lab work required) and the travel involved. Medical emergencies caused Jaye to dip into this account, for if he hadn't, he would not have survived to current day. His daily battles are ferocious!
A second option would be for Jaye to be seen by someone with similar credentials.
Please keep in mind that GoFundMe does take almost 10% as well.
For more details and information in regards to what Jay has gone through recently, many updates will be and have been posted to this page. Jaye usually writes them himself.
In just the last several months alone, Jaye has been to the ER a dozen times including a 4, 5, another 5 a 16 & most recently another 4 day hospital stay; he had to pass a Kidney Stone (twice) diagnosed with gallstones (the latter of which wasn't even brought up to him by the ER Dr. that treated him!) And it will likely require surgery at some point. He's had on a few occasions of blood in his urine (kidney/bladder infections). He was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with pancreatitis and after his last chemo treatment (where he usually suffers with flu-like symptoms for a few days) that condition worsened into bronchitis that he dealt with for 4 months! Antibiotic treatment didn't work & caused another near death experience battling c-diff yet again. How he survives, I'll never know, but he fights and fights hard, so it's the least we can do too, fight for him by raising the funds to get him well! So, I implore you to please read his updates for all the latest information. As you can see, there's just a lot going on and anything you guys can do will help so, so much!!!
(In late 2019 into mid 2020 - Jay has lost over 70lbs) and is currently undergoing several iron transfusions due to extreme blood loss.
The 1st photo below is Jaye dealing with ulcerative colitis at its worst while also dealing with blood clots in both of his lungs. Jaye also has asthma, so just breathing can be very difficult and painful for him.
The 2nd photo shows the extreme severity of his inflammation, plus (if you've ever been on Prednisone, you can see that swelling as well). This was taken after Jaye lost 34lbs in just 1 month!!! That's not fat, it's his inflamed large intestine!!! (2018) G-D love him, he always tries his best to keep his spirits up!
My friend: Jaye Eryk ("Jay Bird") is a writer / filmmaker and photographer whose dedicated his life to help the homeless, abused children and the environment has been battling with Ulcerative Colitis for over 28 years (As of Aug 23, 2020).
Many people may not consider Ulcerative Colitis / IBD & Crohn's Disease to be as serious and/or life threatening as they are. In severe enough cases such as Jaye's; it can potentially lead to colon cancer, sepsis and even death! C-diff is also common with this disease and Jaye has been hospitalized three times for that. C-diff alone kills 30,000 people a year within 30 days if not discovered and treated immediately and the symptoms of it are indiscernible from the disease itself. If you are unfamiliar with ulcerative colitis; it is (in severe cases) dozens to thousands of bleeding ulcerations (open sores) in the colon/large intestine. You get very nauseous and dizzy, vomiting & fever are not uncommon. You bleed internally and then bleed externally. The cramping that you feel is absolutely excruciating and going to the bathroom can be so painful (think of labor pain type contractions in the gut) that you often, whimper, cry, moan and can even pass out. Someone very close to me died from uc and I suffer with it as well. Jaye is a dear friend and his case is extremely serious, the worst I've seen! I know that Jaye isn't the sort of person to ask for help, so I set up this Gofundme for him because I don't want to lose him too.
The disease has left him struggling for his life; leaving him not only physically (chronic pain) & mentally tormented (major depression, anxiety, stress) but morally & financially bankrupt. Over the past few years he's lost his home, his car and most of his belongings having to sell off his bedroom and other furniture, jewelry, and even camera lenses required to earn an income when he's well (just so he could pay for GI visits, hospitalizations and medicines as he had no health insurance). In fact, this continued well into the creation of this GFM page; the amount you see listed (what we have raised so far) isn't what Jaye currently has available. Because we were unable to raise the funds right away, it was imperative that Jaye see Gastroenterologists or he would not have survived long enough to meet the goal of this page. Those GI visits cost $319 EACH and that didn't include his medications, lab work & procedures which were many (and expensive).
Unable to work and dealing with multiple and lengthy hospitalizations one after the other over the past few years with none of the medications that Dr's have tried working; (Asacol, Apriso, Lialda, Humira etc... & even chemo) his body is literally shutting down. Although you can live a long life with this disease (in mild to moderate cases) if the medications do not work and they're not a candidate for surgery, Ulcerative Colitis is a death sentence. Jaye has ended the year + long chemotherapy for this condition because it too, hasn't worked, and it's taking quite a toll on him, leaving him with extreme dizziness, nausea, fingers that won't bend and that he can't use most of the day (see video above) he is so crippled by it that he can barely make it to the bathroom in time when attacks occur (and sometimes doesn't).
(A quick backstory: In 1998, Jaye came across a holistic Dr. (which he was not a believer in at the time) but it was his moms idea and he so he listened to her; to his surprise it miraculously saved his life from this disease that at the time nearly killed him. His holistic Dr. after just 4 visits got him into a near 17 year remission!!! It was during this time that Jaye completed his college education and began his career in film/tv.
That was until November of 2015 when he started getting sick again. Living paycheck to paycheck (as many of us do) Jaye fought through the discomfort (running to the bathroom (15 - 20) times a day) bleeding profusely and with severe pain to continue working, but by June of 2016 he was so sick that he could no longer care for himself and he had no family or anyone to help him. Defeated, he made the decision to take a break and fly to North Carolina from South Florida to be with family for a couple of weeks, hoping that rest and care would ease the symptoms a bit, allowing him to go back to Florida and back to work. . Only, things continued to worsen for him and he was not able to leave. He lost 30 pounds and so much blood that standing was nearly impossible, and by September he was immediately admitted to the hospital.
He was hospitalized in Florida for a few days just prior to leaving and now again in North Carolina. Without being able to work or get well, Jaye couldn't get back to Florida. He had very little in savings and was paying for a residence that he wasn't living in and not only lost his home; but a few months later his car as well. Everything the Dr's tried, failed. his body resistant to every medication. Jaye has done everything he could to pay for all these expenses on his own; he sold off what few belongings he had left (since his storage unit was auctioned off, he lost everything else) now completely depleted of not just his finances, but his assets as well.
Unfortunately, because of all he's been through, he's financially unable to go see his Dr. back in South Florida, which (at this point) is his only saving grace. Either her or someone like her. He listened to every local Doctor. He did what they asked of him, but his body continues to reject the medicines and he's been on 40 - 60mg of Prednisone daily (and up to 250mg/day in the hospital) for three years! Every attempt to ween off at home has landed him back in the hospital. On multiple occasions with C-diff as well.
The Prednisone was the only thing keeping Jaye alive and it's such a dangerous medication, that he's suffering greatly with many of its nasty side effects including, but not limited to severe joint/muscular pain, blurred vision, insomnia, dizziness, tiredness, depression, headaches and hurts the bodies ability to fight off infection. Combine that with an auto-immune disease and Jaye is frequently sick and struggles to ever get well! In fact, Jaye had been complaining of chronic and worsening knee pain; a recent MRI revealed Avascular Necrosis in several areas (Rotting bones caused by Prednisone). Knowing that the ulcerative colitis would worsen, he chose to stop the Prednisone since walking has now become nearly impossible.
To complicate matters further, in August 2018 after 5 months of non-stop coughing, Jaye was just diagnosed with Pulmonary Embolisms (Blood Clots in both of his lungs and is now on blood thinners which is exacerbating his bleeding condition with ulcerative colitis as well as complicates testing such as colonoscopies and potential surgeries).
Additionally, Jaye has severe injuries to his back. 8 herniated and bulging discs, some pinching nerves, spinal stenosis, degenerative arthritis of the spine, spondylosis, damage to his Atlas vertebrae and most recently (Oct 2018) 2 crushed vertebrae (in other words, a broken back) which happened because he was trying to help his mom move boxes after Hurricane Florence caused significant damage to their home. It would be a gross understatement to say that he is in chronic severe pain every day, he can't sleep at night, is suffering greatly and just a victim of rotten luck! ADDENDUM: Jaye has since been diagnosed with osteoporosis as a result of excessive Prednisone use to treat his ulcerative colitis. This has resulted in a multitude of recurring broken vertebrae! In 2020, Jaye has 6 broken vertebrae and a wedge fracture and scoliosis.
When he can work; Jaye donates his time & talent to many non-profit organizations, he helps others, even creating TV series to help the environment, the homeless and abused children, but has been unable to pursue that dream because of his failing health. Jaye knows he needs assistance, but has a hard time asking for it. He didn't want to start a GoFundMe account on his own, so I felt compelled to do one for him and to provide you all with as much information I can.
Aside from financial aid (which of course is why we're here) if you, or someone you know has any methods to help this page go viral and outside of our limited social circles, it would be gratefully & humbly appreciated! Fiverr / Social marketers etc... Be sure to read the updates for things Jaye may have already tried. I know he attempts to update frequently with pictures and video's. If you really want the full scope of how his life has gone since the creation of this page, please read his many updates.
If you are able to donate, THANK YOU! That's awesome!!! If not, that's perfectly fine too, though I ask that everyone at least help by SHARING this page on your social media accounts (Facebook, blog, Twitter, Instagram etc...) and ask others (friends and family and coworkers) to share it on theirs... it's so important! Even at church, school, synogogue, and not just once, but repeatedly so that it is seen. Talk about it with others, people need to see this page and read his story. The more eyes we can get on here, the better the chances of our campaign being a success! I know that together we can save a person's life! A little care can go a long way.
Anyone with Ulcerative Colitis is already at a higher risk than most for colon cancer. With such severe inflammation in Jaye's colon and large intestine especially over the course of 4+ years!!! That risk goes up exponentially!!!
Please help in any way that you can.
~Namasté
To breakdown the $10,000 (which is the starting goal, hopefully we can surpass it).
Jaye has nearly died several times recently; in 2018; in February, nearly again the following month and later in the year, again in 2019 and twice during the first half of 2020. He is nothing if not a fighter, but he is not out of the woods yet.
The funds do NOT include any of Jaye's losses (Home, car, belongings etc...) it is to literally save his life addressing this immediate and dire health concern. Ulcerative Colitis. Once he can get that into remission, I pray that Jaye can slowly get his other health issues taken care of and soon after back on his feet!
This includes 3 or 4 (hopefully more) visits to see his holistic Dr. back in Florida so he can be treated. As she is a medical Dr., Legally she must physically 'see' him within a 3 year span to treat him. She'll have to see Jay at least once, likely twice, and we're hoping that 2 of the visits would be by telephone to save money, but still a charged visit. Visits may include blood work, procedures possibly as well,
This is where Jaye would be going and whom he would be seeing.
www.mackeyhealth.com
The donations are going directly toward his visits, his treatments (including any and all updated lab work required) and the travel involved. Medical emergencies caused Jaye to dip into this account, for if he hadn't, he would not have survived to current day. His daily battles are ferocious!
A second option would be for Jaye to be seen by someone with similar credentials.
Please keep in mind that GoFundMe does take almost 10% as well.
For more details and information in regards to what Jay has gone through recently, many updates will be and have been posted to this page. Jaye usually writes them himself.
In just the last several months alone, Jaye has been to the ER a dozen times including a 4, 5, another 5 a 16 & most recently another 4 day hospital stay; he had to pass a Kidney Stone (twice) diagnosed with gallstones (the latter of which wasn't even brought up to him by the ER Dr. that treated him!) And it will likely require surgery at some point. He's had on a few occasions of blood in his urine (kidney/bladder infections). He was recently hospitalized and diagnosed with pancreatitis and after his last chemo treatment (where he usually suffers with flu-like symptoms for a few days) that condition worsened into bronchitis that he dealt with for 4 months! Antibiotic treatment didn't work & caused another near death experience battling c-diff yet again. How he survives, I'll never know, but he fights and fights hard, so it's the least we can do too, fight for him by raising the funds to get him well! So, I implore you to please read his updates for all the latest information. As you can see, there's just a lot going on and anything you guys can do will help so, so much!!!
(In late 2019 into mid 2020 - Jay has lost over 70lbs) and is currently undergoing several iron transfusions due to extreme blood loss.
The 1st photo below is Jaye dealing with ulcerative colitis at its worst while also dealing with blood clots in both of his lungs. Jaye also has asthma, so just breathing can be very difficult and painful for him.
The 2nd photo shows the extreme severity of his inflammation, plus (if you've ever been on Prednisone, you can see that swelling as well). This was taken after Jaye lost 34lbs in just 1 month!!! That's not fat, it's his inflamed large intestine!!! (2018) G-D love him, he always tries his best to keep his spirits up!
Organizer and beneficiary
Terri Schindler
Organizer
Jacksonville, NC
Jaye Eryk
Beneficiary