Sick Cells Raising Hell....Please Help!!!

Hi, my name is Chris and I'm fundraising for my cousin Erick Barrett.

Erick Barrett is a young single man who suffers from sickle cell anemia, a rare blood disorder that causes excruciating pain and can cause severe complications. Despite being born with this disorder Erick has persevered and has done his best to live a normal life. Erick is a 2010 graduate of Monroe College with 10 years experience working in Human Resources. Erick was working as a H.R. Analyst in early December of 2022 when he received a frantic call from his doctor’s office. Erick was told the results of a routine check up showed that his potassium levels were way too high and he needed to go to an emergency room right away or risk having cardiac arrest at any moment.

Erick left work and made his way to the emergency room. This unexpected hospital visit led to a one week stay and of course time missed from work. The doctors unfortunately had a difficult time making his dangerously high potassium level go down. First they tried giving him insulin intravenously but the potassium level didn’t drop low enough so they had to place an emergency catheter in his neck to perform a dialysis procedure. Thankfully this special procedure was successful and Erick’s numbers were eventually good enough for him to be released from the hospital.

After leaving the hospital in mid December of 2022 Erick was happy to get his life back on track which meant getting back to his apartment and going back to work. He was also excited and optimistic for the new year of 2023; however this optimism quickly faded when only after the second week in January an extremely painful sickle cell crisis forced him to return to the hospital.

This time what Erick hoped would be a short hospital stay lasted eight months (January to August) of this year due to high potassium levels which led to heart problems, acute strokes and kidney damage. While in the hospital, Erick endured:

8 Blood Transfusions-To replace sickled red blood cells with normal donated red blood cells.

3 Acute Strokes - Caused by high blood pressure and kidney damage.

1 Plasma Exchange- To prevent strokes 70% of blood is removed and replaced with donated red blood cells.

3 Cardio versions - Electric shock procedure to shock the heart back into a normal rhythm.

Making matters even worse, while in the hospital Erick’s employment was terminated in early February of this year. (Letter attached)

Also during his lengthy hospital stay Erick continued to pay rent on his vacant apartment not knowing exactly when he would be released, thus depleting most of his personal savings. Erick made many attempts to find new employment while in the hospital, even doing virtual job interviews from his hospital room but was unable to secure new employment upon release.

Erick is currently facing eviction unless he is able to pay the back rent owed this month, October 2023. In addition to the current financial stress, Erick’s health challenges are far from over as he needs many medications to keep him alive. Please help us by sharing Erick’s story and donating to our fund so we can help Erick pay his back rent and his medical bills, which include the extensive list of medications below. Thank You

Medications Erick is current prescribed to take:

1)Rosuvastatin Calcium 20MG - blood pressure and heart rhythm

2)Prednisone 5MG - Steroid to help produce red blood cells

3)Amlodipine 10MG - Blood pressure reduction medication

4)Hydralazine 50MG - Also blood pressure reduction medication

5)Carvedlol 12.5MG - Also blood pressure reduction medication

6)Clonidine HCL 0.2 MG - Also blood pressure reduction medication and heart rate

7)Flecainide Acetate 50MG - To prevent Heart from going into afib

8)Sertraline HCL 50MG - Also to prevent Heart from going into afib

9)Oxycodone 5MG - Pain reduction /management

10)Sodium Bicarb 650MG- Help neutralize acid in blood and help with kidneys function

11)Folic Acid 1MG: Iron to help with red blood cell production

12)Torsemide 20MG: Helps the kidneys remove water from the body

13)Hydroxyurea 500MG: Helps to prevent sickle cell crisis