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Life-Saving Surgery Recovery Fund for John Foss

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Dear Community,
Our friend and community member, John Foss, is in need. Early in December, he became overcome with intense abdominal pain and had to go into the emergency room at Jefferson Health Care in Port Townsend, WA. John ended up needing emergency surgery, suffered a serious infection afterward, and will still need another surgery in several months. After Which it will take months to complete the recovery process. John is always one to step forward to help those in need, and now it's our turn to help him. If you are able, please give generously to this Life-Saving Surgery Recovery Fund for John Foss.

What happened to John?

In early December 2022, John suddenly lost his appetite and developed progressively worsening abdominal pain. He found that he couldn't eat anything. He lost weight. He couldn't sleep. He toughed it out like this for more than a week. Eventually, on December 6th, he got a friend to drive him to the emergency room at Jefferson Health Care. A CT scan showed that he had a complete blockage of his colon caused by a large mass, worrisome for cancer. Colonoscopy the following day on the 7th, showed that the mass was not malignant. Instead, it was an abscess that had developed as a complication of diverticulitis. It had damaged several portions of his small bowel and colon that had leaked and formed this larger abscess.

He underwent surgery on Dec 8th and was found to have a severe case of "diverticulitis with multiple complicating enteroenteric and enterocolonic fistulae". Fistula are abnormal connections between one loop of small bowel and another, or between the small bowel and colon. His surgeon and her assistants did the impossible and over the course of 7 hours, heroically removed the entire abscess mass and damaged sections of the intestine. Despite the arduous and risky surgery, John made an amazingly fast recovery, with his new, temporary colostomy working perfectly, allowing him to regain his appetite and some of the weight he lost.

As he was recuperating in the hospital, he developed intermittent fevers and new abdominal pain. His white blood cell count was found to be elevated. A repeat CT scan showed a new fluid collection, likely a post-op abscess. So he was transferred to Swedish, First Hill campus in Seattle, where the interventional radiology team drained his abscess under CT guidance. He was monitored for yet another week in Seattle, but on December 22nd, John was finally well enough to be released, after 16 days straight in two different hospitals.

Although making an amazing recovery, John isn’t out of the woods yet. He is now living with a colostomy and is still recovering from the trauma of such extensive surgery. And later this summer, he will have to undergo a reversal of the colostomy, spending another week in the hospital, followed by more recovery at home.

What John needs now.

John will have significant medical bills from this crisis with more to come, even with the aid of insurance. John will be unable to work in the physically demanding construction and machine shop jobs he is accustomed to and thus will not be able to generate much-needed income. He will need assistance with medical bills and basic living expenses, like rent, utilities, groceries, auto and maintenance, pet care, etc. When able, he hopes to retrain to become a local school bus driver. A less physically demanding career with a respectable income and benefits. Until John can get back on his feet, he needs additional financial support.

John has always been one to step forward to help those in need, and now it's our turn to help him. If you are able, please give generously to this Life-Saving Surgery Recovery Fund for John Foss.

What to give besides money.

  • A Recliner
  • Heating Fuel Oil
  • Compressed Idaho Fire Logs from Cenex
  • QFC Gas Card
  • Amazon or Petco Gift Cards
  • Efficient Daily Driver Vehicle
  • New Tires for Truck

How to give if you GoFundMe isn’t an option.

John is also accepting funds through PayPal and Zelle using his email address - [email redacted]

Cash or checks can be delivered or mailed to him at his residence:
1521 West Valley Road
Chimacum, WA 98325

Thank you all.

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Donations 

  • Anonymous
    • $20
    • 8 mos
  • Sadie Mayo
    • $50
    • 2 yrs
  • Jamey Osmer
    • $400
    • 2 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $20
    • 2 yrs
  • Kathy Pool
    • $150
    • 2 yrs
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Organizer and beneficiary

Nicole Witham
Organizer
Port Hadlock-Irondale, WA
Evan Foss
Beneficiary

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