- Joined
- Jun 14, 2012
- Messages
- 3,242
- Points
- 248
Hi Lair Family! Many of you who are my Facebook friends may have seen my posts about my dear friend of nearly 30 years and her family. She has the world on her shoulders right now and is in desperate need of any help anyone can give, whether it be prayers, donations, or just a kind thought. She and I have been friends since we were in diapers, her son is like my own and he and Lenore are super close buddies, and my heart is just breaking for them. I'm trying to share their story with anyone and everyone possible to try and help. I copied this from their Facebook page "Supporting the Bless Family" to give an idea of their situation. Lucy is one of the nicest people I've ever met, and it's killing me to see her struggle through this. No one deserves all of this pain. I've seen lair prayers work, and I'm counting on them to work again, if for nothing but to give my dear friend some comfort. Please take a minute to read this. I know it's long, but please. The website to donate is at the bottom if you feel so led. Thanks all! ~Jessica
Description
Very seldom do I find myself at a loss for words. I'm sure as I go along,my gift for gab will take back over... I think to be honest what I’m feeling right now is awe and disbelief!
I’ve heard it said "God does not give you more than you can handle". I would sincerely like to meet the entity who dictates what that said limit is. I have watched a family... One man, his wife and their two small children, be burdened with more than anyone I’ve known and all within a relatively short period of time.
I am a friend and I offered to put something together to post for them. One of my reasons...I know that Ms. Lucy is one of the last people to break down and ask for help, even when she needs it. Near the end of last year Lucy stepped up and helped me when a mutual friends house burned. During a conversation she told me if she ever had to go through something like that she wouldn’t want anyone to know it was her… she didn’t want to feel like people were looking at her, pointing or feeling sorry for her. She didn’t want to appear to be a “victim”.
The time has come, and long since passed actually but Lucy now acknowledges that even she can not hold up the world as Atlas did much longer by herself. So I’m writing this to raise awareness and hopefully stir some fires and get people talking. We need people to share this story, with friends, acquaintances, anyone and everyone. While the main goal must be helping to relieve some of the financial burden is a huge thing, many times people are able to offer their time, services and or sometimes a home cooked meal.
The main focus of this fund raising has been Joe Bless, the husband, father, son and friend to many people. Personally I think the focus needs to be broadened since this affects so much more than Joe himself. There have also been issues both before and after Joe became ill that add to the chaos and complications.
It would be easier to list this as a time line and then fill in the blanks:
June 2013 - Lucy and Joe were alerted that their 5 yr old son, James might
possibly have a very serious lung and heart disease known as
HHT. This began trips to Scottish Rite for cardiology and pulmonary
specialists.
Jul/Aug 2013 - They were told that James had a hole in his heart and
might need both heart and lung surgery. It has since been determined
he will not require heart surgery, but testing is still being done to find
the source of the issue with his lungs.
Sept 2013 - Lucy and Joe were in a car accident that totaled their hybrid.
Both were uninjured other than bumps and bruises. Joe was
knocked unconscious during the accident though.
Nov 2013 - Joe Began showing signs of confusion and having a
difficult time expressing himself. This was the first trip to
the hospital.
Dec 2013 - Early in the month Joe began seeing a neurologist in Athens
who quickly referred him to a team of specialists at Grady
Memorial. They began looking into the possibility of Pick’s disease,
after finding that the frontotemporal lobe of Joe’s brain was
beginning to degenerate and shrink.
Repeated stays at Grady began as the testing became
more in depth. Joe is now removed from work and put on short
term disability as the first step, even with the initial thrown
together diagnosis of dementia at the age of 37.
Jan 2014 - The name of CJD, is put on the table -
“Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a form of brain damage
that leads to a rapid decrease of mental function and movement.”
This disease has a short life expectancy due to the rapid
progression.
The first week of January brought very cold frigid temperatures
to Georgia and along with it many problems with frozen pipes,
etc. Jan 7th had Lucy asking if anyone else was having water
problems since they had city water. The following day she found
out just how big their problems were when they came home to
find water running out the front door of the house. Pipes upstairs
had froze, burst and ran everywhere… including pooling inside the
overhead light fixtures.
Lucy, Joe and both kids were then relocated to a hotel compliments
of their homeowners insurance thank goodness… Sadly due to
delays with a check from the insurance company that was “lost in the
mail” they are still residing in the hotel.
January 17th I was on the phone with Lucy and she was updating me
on everything that was happening when her sister, Moira called her.
Her mother while making repairs on their truck had been hit by a
falling tree and killed instantly.
Since the middle of January Lucy has now become legal guardian to her 16 year old sister Moira Reed who is hearing impaired and a very active high school student.Also her father who is in the beginning stages of dementia and for all express purposes legally blind. She is also now trying to take care of large of back taxes on her parents property to make sure that her father and sister still have a home, while trying to make sure her sister gets to and from all of her weekly appointments.
Very shortly after the death of Lucy’s mother they found out her mother had no life insurance and there was also no homeowners insurance to help with the cost of the funeral expenses.
February 18th was Joe’s most recent visit to Grady Memorial and appointment with his team of doctor’s. They were hoping to be able to give a pinpointed diagnosis and put a name to this disease that is taking Joe from his family but this has still not happened.
The tests did show dramatic changes though. His last test a month and a half ago showed his cognitive thinking and mental level to be at 63%, the ct scan done immediately following the test showed 45% more shrinkage of the frontotemporal lobe of Joe’s brain.
In February the test showed that Joe’s cognitive thinking and mental ability has decreased to 22%, the doctors are shocked at the rapid decrease. they weren’t able to do a ct scan following so they aren’t sure of the physical degradation yet.
This has been a long and very scarey summary of what has been taking place with the Bless family in less than a year.
Fundraising sites, crowdfunding, donation fliers as many way of raising awareness and helping to provide this family with the help they desperately need are in being looked into.
We are trying to help the family financially so that it’s possible for Lucy to finish the repairs, pay the bills so she and her family can go back to their home and spend what time they have remaining as a family. Building memories for their children to have of their father, so they have more than just stories they told by others.
Lucy has had to place small bandaids so to speak on large wounds until she can address them fully. Thier son still has severe lung issues, her husband has a degenerative brain disease, their daughter is still a 3 year old little girl who still feels like the princess that her father has always treated her as, but now she is confused and she is scared. Medications exceeding $1500/ mnth for father and son plus the nurse the doctor wants for Joe is like dropping the weight of the world on Lucy’s shoulders.
Life for the family is as if everything as they knew it was a deck of cards and someone has played a cruel game of 51 pick up with them, only they took some of the cards so that no matter how hard they search they will never find them all.
Any and all help that anyone can provided will be accepted and appreciated. Our goal is making it possible for the Bless family to remain together as Joe’s disease progresses, and to allow Lucy to care for both he and her family to the fullest.
Caringbridge.org : Joseph Bless
https://fundly.com/aiding-the-bless-family
Description
Very seldom do I find myself at a loss for words. I'm sure as I go along,my gift for gab will take back over... I think to be honest what I’m feeling right now is awe and disbelief!
I’ve heard it said "God does not give you more than you can handle". I would sincerely like to meet the entity who dictates what that said limit is. I have watched a family... One man, his wife and their two small children, be burdened with more than anyone I’ve known and all within a relatively short period of time.
I am a friend and I offered to put something together to post for them. One of my reasons...I know that Ms. Lucy is one of the last people to break down and ask for help, even when she needs it. Near the end of last year Lucy stepped up and helped me when a mutual friends house burned. During a conversation she told me if she ever had to go through something like that she wouldn’t want anyone to know it was her… she didn’t want to feel like people were looking at her, pointing or feeling sorry for her. She didn’t want to appear to be a “victim”.
The time has come, and long since passed actually but Lucy now acknowledges that even she can not hold up the world as Atlas did much longer by herself. So I’m writing this to raise awareness and hopefully stir some fires and get people talking. We need people to share this story, with friends, acquaintances, anyone and everyone. While the main goal must be helping to relieve some of the financial burden is a huge thing, many times people are able to offer their time, services and or sometimes a home cooked meal.
The main focus of this fund raising has been Joe Bless, the husband, father, son and friend to many people. Personally I think the focus needs to be broadened since this affects so much more than Joe himself. There have also been issues both before and after Joe became ill that add to the chaos and complications.
It would be easier to list this as a time line and then fill in the blanks:
June 2013 - Lucy and Joe were alerted that their 5 yr old son, James might
possibly have a very serious lung and heart disease known as
HHT. This began trips to Scottish Rite for cardiology and pulmonary
specialists.
Jul/Aug 2013 - They were told that James had a hole in his heart and
might need both heart and lung surgery. It has since been determined
he will not require heart surgery, but testing is still being done to find
the source of the issue with his lungs.
Sept 2013 - Lucy and Joe were in a car accident that totaled their hybrid.
Both were uninjured other than bumps and bruises. Joe was
knocked unconscious during the accident though.
Nov 2013 - Joe Began showing signs of confusion and having a
difficult time expressing himself. This was the first trip to
the hospital.
Dec 2013 - Early in the month Joe began seeing a neurologist in Athens
who quickly referred him to a team of specialists at Grady
Memorial. They began looking into the possibility of Pick’s disease,
after finding that the frontotemporal lobe of Joe’s brain was
beginning to degenerate and shrink.
Repeated stays at Grady began as the testing became
more in depth. Joe is now removed from work and put on short
term disability as the first step, even with the initial thrown
together diagnosis of dementia at the age of 37.
Jan 2014 - The name of CJD, is put on the table -
“Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a form of brain damage
that leads to a rapid decrease of mental function and movement.”
This disease has a short life expectancy due to the rapid
progression.
The first week of January brought very cold frigid temperatures
to Georgia and along with it many problems with frozen pipes,
etc. Jan 7th had Lucy asking if anyone else was having water
problems since they had city water. The following day she found
out just how big their problems were when they came home to
find water running out the front door of the house. Pipes upstairs
had froze, burst and ran everywhere… including pooling inside the
overhead light fixtures.
Lucy, Joe and both kids were then relocated to a hotel compliments
of their homeowners insurance thank goodness… Sadly due to
delays with a check from the insurance company that was “lost in the
mail” they are still residing in the hotel.
January 17th I was on the phone with Lucy and she was updating me
on everything that was happening when her sister, Moira called her.
Her mother while making repairs on their truck had been hit by a
falling tree and killed instantly.
Since the middle of January Lucy has now become legal guardian to her 16 year old sister Moira Reed who is hearing impaired and a very active high school student.Also her father who is in the beginning stages of dementia and for all express purposes legally blind. She is also now trying to take care of large of back taxes on her parents property to make sure that her father and sister still have a home, while trying to make sure her sister gets to and from all of her weekly appointments.
Very shortly after the death of Lucy’s mother they found out her mother had no life insurance and there was also no homeowners insurance to help with the cost of the funeral expenses.
February 18th was Joe’s most recent visit to Grady Memorial and appointment with his team of doctor’s. They were hoping to be able to give a pinpointed diagnosis and put a name to this disease that is taking Joe from his family but this has still not happened.
The tests did show dramatic changes though. His last test a month and a half ago showed his cognitive thinking and mental level to be at 63%, the ct scan done immediately following the test showed 45% more shrinkage of the frontotemporal lobe of Joe’s brain.
In February the test showed that Joe’s cognitive thinking and mental ability has decreased to 22%, the doctors are shocked at the rapid decrease. they weren’t able to do a ct scan following so they aren’t sure of the physical degradation yet.
This has been a long and very scarey summary of what has been taking place with the Bless family in less than a year.
Fundraising sites, crowdfunding, donation fliers as many way of raising awareness and helping to provide this family with the help they desperately need are in being looked into.
We are trying to help the family financially so that it’s possible for Lucy to finish the repairs, pay the bills so she and her family can go back to their home and spend what time they have remaining as a family. Building memories for their children to have of their father, so they have more than just stories they told by others.
Lucy has had to place small bandaids so to speak on large wounds until she can address them fully. Thier son still has severe lung issues, her husband has a degenerative brain disease, their daughter is still a 3 year old little girl who still feels like the princess that her father has always treated her as, but now she is confused and she is scared. Medications exceeding $1500/ mnth for father and son plus the nurse the doctor wants for Joe is like dropping the weight of the world on Lucy’s shoulders.
Life for the family is as if everything as they knew it was a deck of cards and someone has played a cruel game of 51 pick up with them, only they took some of the cards so that no matter how hard they search they will never find them all.
Any and all help that anyone can provided will be accepted and appreciated. Our goal is making it possible for the Bless family to remain together as Joe’s disease progresses, and to allow Lucy to care for both he and her family to the fullest.
Caringbridge.org : Joseph Bless
https://fundly.com/aiding-the-bless-family
Last edited:
