Joshua Thao

Nice, that’s the one word every one describes Josh as. He is such a pure human being. Always self-less, puts others first and always sees the good in everyone.

As many of you have been following Josh’s journey since he’s been hospitalized until now, you can see it’s been an emotional rollercoaster and a long journey. I want to share a little about Josh, what has happened and what will happen in the future to paint a better picture.

Being a dad is what Josh is most proud of. He loves our two kids Vera (7 yrs) & Theodore (5 yrs) with all of his heart. We’ve been married for almost ten years now and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone but Josh. He’s my best friend and an amazing husband. Aside from that Josh is a loving son and brother to his parents and his siblings. He enjoys and is so passionate about his job as a Infrastructure Engineer.

On December 8th, Josh’s test came back positive. For a whole week and a half, he had body aches, chills, a fever and shortness of breath. Yet, he kept telling me he was ok because that’s just who Josh is. He never wanted anyone to worry about him. On Friday, December 17th, I finally took him into urgent care. When we arrived, the staff measured his oxygen at 63%, which is dangerously low. From there, he was taken by ambulance to St. Vincent hospital. For about two weeks, he fought hard to stay on the BiPAP machine to avoid intubation. However on January 9th, his body was far too tired and he ultimately was intubated. For weeks, doctors and nurses kept delivering bad news to us. His doctor told us multiple times that Josh’s x-rays were not improving. They showed us his CT scan which showed how much fibrosis surrounded his lungs. The care team in Green Bay basically told us, it was a waiting game for another organ to fail and then it would be time to let Josh go. There were times the family and I felt hopeless but every time we looked at Josh, we knew it wasn’t his time. I remember one morning, the doctor came in, my father in law was in the room with me and Josh. He told us, Josh’s only way to make it out of this was a lung transplant. But that no one will accept him because he did not meet certain criterias. I asked the doctor to try because we need to exhaust everything. He agreed but told me the chances are low. Doctor came back later that afternoon and told me, “Milwaukee declined your husband.” I said, “Well let’s try Madison then.” He slowly backed out of the room and said, it probably won’t happen. The very next day, Josh’s brother, Ronald went to stay with him. While I reached out to multiple lung transplant programs throughout WI, IL and MN. The first one I called was Froedtert hospital. I believe it all happened for a reason.
On the morning of Friday, January 21st, Sarah, our coordinator called and told me they’d like Josh’s care to be transferred. Not only that, they wanted him flown to Milwaukee that very night. And that was Josh’s journey to Froedtert.
Since Josh has been at Froedtert, he’s been placed on ECMO. A device that oxygenates his blood outside of his body. It would allow the team to ween him off the ventilator and his sedation medication. At one point, while he is on ECMO, the ventilator, his sedation was reduced, and he was able to sit at the side of his bed and even stand for a bit. Doctors noted he has a 10% chance of lung recovery. On January 26th, Josh was extubated. He’s been making progress since then. His care team commend him for his persistence.
From here, Josh will do physical therapy to strengthen his body again. Within the next two weeks, the care team will determine whether Josh’s lung damage is reversible or not. If not, he will be placed on the lung transplant waitlist. I can’t deny that Josh is a fighter so along side of him, I will continue to fight.

Looking up the cost for a double lung transplant, you will find that the average is $1.3 million dollars. Although Josh has private insurance through work, it does not cover all medical expenses. So I’m here to kindly and gracefully ask some financial support as we navigate down this road to recovery.

Josh is only 32 years old, he has so much life left to live. I can’t thank the care team at Froedtert for taking Josh under their wings.

Every single day, we’ll keep fighting.

**Funds will go directly to Help, Hope, Live who will help allocate the money towards anything medically related for Josh. We will not have direct access to what is raised. What is raised can go towards, Josh’s hospital stay, medication, or anything that has been impacted by Josh’s medical journey. **
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Family and friends of Joshua Thao are raising money for the nonprofit Help Hope Live to fund uninsured medical expenses associated with transplantation.

Joshua has chosen to fundraise for Help Hope Live in part because Help Hope Live assures fiscal accountability of funds raised and tax deductibility for contributors. Contributors can be sure donations will be used to pay or reimburse medical and related expenses. To make a tax-deductible donation to this fundraising campaign, click on the Give button.

For more information, please contact Help Hope Live at 800.642.8399.

Thank you for your support!