My husband, Jeffrey Rush was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2001. At age 35, we were recently married, he was an ambitious up and coming executive with a very bright future, a highly competitive tennis player and very athletic. One morning he woke up and couldn’t feel the left side of his body and couldn’t put his thoughts and speech together properly. After many tests he was diagnosed with the most crippling form of MS. Because of his inability to cognitively function, walk normally, and control his daily tremors from uncontrollable nerve damage due to the disease, his working days ended. Jeffrey was put on disability and started a new and unexpected path in life. He tried so many MS drugs, to no avail. There are no drugs out there that help his form of Primary Progressive MS.
Jeffrey is a loving husband, father to our daughters Whitney (12) and Sydney (10). It has been 14 years now and Jeffrey is starting to rapidly decline. The days he used to spend participating in family events are few and far between. Watching his beautiful daughters grow up around him, he is wishing for a miracle. We feel now we have found the miracle!!
Jeffrey is the perfect candidate for stem cell replacement therapy and the treatment center has had fantastic results and Jeffrey’s life could dramatically change for the better because of it! Insurance will not cover the therapy and we are reaching out in any way we can to make this miracle happen!!! Our family has never done anything like this before. The cost of the first transplant will be roughly around $10,000. We will need to travel to the treatment center and stay while the transplant is being done. Depending on how his results will be, there may be a need of future transplants as his disease progresses.
Jeffrey has been the most amazing husband and father despite “ALL” of his difficulties and put’s on a smiling face every day. I would love for Jeffrey to be able to have hope and a long and healthy future as the girls grow up, attend college and be able to walk them down the aisle one day.
To help with the financial burden of Jeffrey’s uninsured transplant expense, a fundraising campaign in his honor has been established with the HelpHOPELive, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Southeast Stem Cell Transplant Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for transplant-related expenses only. Please consider a contribution.
On behalf of Jeffrey and our family, thank you for your kindness, generosity, and support
Shelley Rush
727-744-3334
[email protected]
