Meet The Leasure Family
For the 2nd October KARE Foundation’s recipient, we once again collaborated with another amazing foundation whose mission is to also financially help families struggling with life threatening diseases, Jamies’ Dream Team. We have collaborated with this foundation in the past and are honored once again to be contributors to help the Axel Leasure family from western Pennsylvania.
Axel is a 9-year-old boy who has genetic medical challenges, but unfortunately was recently diagnosed with a Brain Glioma that has moved to his spine. His father and other brother also have the same genetic condition that has made it difficult for the father to work. As you can imagine, the financial stress is overwhelming. To make matters worse, their one vehicle used to transport the family to and from appointments recently became unrepairable. This meant they were completely dependent on others for transportation. They had no funds available to purchase another vehicle.
This is when Jamie’s Dream Team heard about the families struggles from the Resource Counselor at the hospital in Pittsburg to see if they could assist in helping the family procure transportation. When Jamie contacted the KARE Foundation, the board agreed the Leasure family would be our 2nd recipient for October and provided funds to Jamie’s Dream team to contribute to the purchase of a vehicle. Below is the social media post from Jamie with the list of amazing organizations that contributed to make this happen for the family. As you can see from the collage of pictures and statements from the family, they are beyond appreciative to all the foundations who contributed to getting them into a reliable vehicle once again!!
This level of support from other foundations humbles me to recognize how many amazing organizations are out there with a mission to help others in need!! We are blessed to be able to work with these non-profit organizations.
Since Paul was a mechanic and also a kind and generous soul for those in financial need when having issues with their vehicles, he would be so proud to know KARE contributed to getting the Leasure family back “on the road”!
Below is the social Media post from Jamie’s Dream Team
“We would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to those who were able to come together to help us provide Axel and his family with their dream! We could not have done this without the help of our fellow organizations and those of you supporting us as well.
Yesterday, we all had the pleasure of surprising Axel's family with their new vehicle. This vehicle will be used to provide safe and reliable transportation for Axel to and from his ongoing medical treatments. We are all so very thankful for all of the support. Please make sure to check out the photos from the surprise!
A special heartfelt THANK YOU to our fellow organizations who helped make all of this possible. This weekend, we will be featuring them on our page with information about them and an upcoming fundraiser that you are able to support them with. We sincerely appreciate each and every one of you. Thank you for helping us continue to make Dreams come true.”
Below is the list of contributing organizations:
Paul Dostie KARE Foundation "Kindness Always Rewards Everyone"
Carson's Hope
Rocco's Warriors
Thinking of Nikki Foundation
Reflections Of Grace
www.412Foundation.com
Thank you donors and blessings to all!
Meet Armando Fletcher
As KARE Foundation followers know, Paul’s daughter Allie has been fighting Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) since birth. As any mother would do, you reach out to find any resources, associations and/or medical institutions to gain knowledge of the disease and collaborate with others who have, or have a loved one, with HCM. This is when Jeanne’s relationship started many years ago with Lisa Flanigan Salberg, CEO and Founder of The HCM Association (HCMA).
Lisa started HCMA in 1996 after her sister Lori passed from HCM. Lisa herself also has the disease and was the recipient of a heart transplant around 7 years ago. (Thankfully she is doing GREAT!) HCMA provides support, advocacy, and education to patients, families, the medical community, and the public about hypertrophic cardiomyopathy while supporting research and fostering the development of treatments. Lisa is a passionate advocate for HCM, and she and her team have made incredible headway to advance the research and treatments for others with this heart disease.
When Paul passed, we knew the foundation also needed to support HCM warriors and over the last couple years, we have found several recipients after reading their stories on the HCMA Facebook page. Since the KARE Foundation’s mission to help HCM patients with financial support seemed to augment the mission of HCMA, we contacted HCMA to provide more information about the KARE and how we could collaborate.
That is when the KARE Foundation connected with our October recipient, Armando Fletcher. Armando is an HCM patient who was required to have open heart surgery for a septal myectomy and to fix value issues. Both surgeries are common for HCM patients with severe symptoms and the surgery is usually the first line of defense to prolong the patient’s own heart function and hopefully mitigate the need for a transplant. Unfortunately, Armando had just started a new job when his heart started failing rapidly and he was required to have surgery. Armando is a resident of New Mexico but was sent to Boston to the Lahey Clinic on September 3rd since the Cardio team specializes in this complicated surgery for HCM.
Being that Armando just started his job, he was not yet eligible for health care or disability. Thankfully the company is keeping the position open for when he can return to work. However, the expenses have been overwhelming! Armando is a follower of HCMA and after his surgery, he contacted the association to see if they provided financial assistance for patients. HCMA does have the Lori Fund which provides up to $600 per year microgrants to patients with financial needs. These funds are specifically for patient care and not for diagnostic or screening purposes.
Since Armando’s financial need was so great, HCMA contacted the KARE Foundation to see if we could help. We contacted Armando to understand his situation and the KARE board wholeheartedly agreed Armando would be a recipient for KARE Funds. When we contacted Armando with the news, he was beyond grateful for the support. (From both the Lori Fund and KARE). The financial support WILL help him get through his recovery so he can get back to work and start paying off the medical bills that have accumulated due to his illness.
Armando is a loving 45-year-old father of 2 boys, Armando IV (almost 21), and Josiah 19. Currently they are in the process of determining if his son’s may have the disease, but neither are having symptoms at this time. (THANKFULLY!)
It has been a long road to recovery. Armando had complications after his surgery which required him to be in the hospital for several weeks. Thankfully his parents were able to be there with him for most of the time. He is now home recovering, but still sore from the surgery and unfortunately his heart is having AFIB symptoms. His medical team is reviewing options for treatment/procedure to correct. Armando is anxiously waiting to get this surgery behind him, start feeling better, and get back to work and life once again!
Thank you, donors, for your generous support to help recipients like Armando! We will keep in contact with Armando to see how his recovery is progressing and will also keep him in our thoughts and prayers. The KARE Foundation is also grateful to collaborate with HCMA to help Armando. HCMA has offered so much support and knowledge to the Dostie family, (and sooooo many families across the globe), over the years!!
Paul would be proud to know his legacy is once again helping someone like Armando! He would also be proud to know we are working with the HCMA that has been instrumental in providing resources and educational support for his family over the years for his daughter Allie.
Blessings all!