Help raise funds for drugs and treatment not available here in NZ

My son Matt was a fun-loving normal child and after complications with acne medication his life took a serious turn for the worse and now at 37 years of age his Crohns disease is not responding to conventional treatment, he has a surgically created hole in his bowel called a stoma to allow him to poop but this has not stopped the disease and one of the drugs for Crohns has caused weeping sores in his groins and armpits. Pharmacy have turned him down 3 times for a drug which if he lived in the UK or Australia this would be covered. Here it costs $30,000 per annum and he needs an autologous stem cell transplant, as this reboots the immune system. Again this is not available here - so we would have to travel and pay for it. This could cost around $100,000.

I have included a full description of how Matt got to where he is below, but the simple fact is that

Matt needs your help .....

About Crohns Disease

Crohn's disease is an inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). It causes inflammation of your digestive tract, which can lead to abdominal pain, severe diarrhea, fatigue, fever, infection, blockages, fistulas, weight loss and malnutrition and often requires blood & iron transfusions. This disease can sometimes cause life-threatening complications.

Crohn's disease cannot be cured. Medications such as steroids and immunosuppressants are used to slow the progression of disease. If these aren't effective, a patient may require surgery. Additionally, patients with Crohn's disease may need to receive regular screening for colorectal cancer due to increased risk.

Matthews History

Matthew has been battling Crohns disease since his late teens after his acne treatment, and it's severe affecting: the large colon, small colon, stomach, eyes and in conjunction with this he has Hidradenitis Suppurativa (HS) a nasty skin condition which leaves him with open, leaky wounds in his groins, armpits and soft tissue folds. The HS was triggered by a drug for the Crohns disease..... we really couldn't believe his luck.

He started on Pentasa, prednisone (steroids to suppress the immune system) and over the years his Crohns disease just get progressively worse and with each drug we find a different side effect. He has had an anaphylaxis, liver toxicity, Hidradenitis Suppurativa (skin disorder), local infections, steroid induced osteoporosis, super bugs and iritis. All in all a pretty sorry picture with very little quality of life .

Now that we have exhausted every standard and funded drug we are left with one option Ustekinumab aka Stellara which is made my Janssen and although they fund 50% of the costs we are still looking at $24,072 in the first year and $30,000 thereafter. It is likely to be funded here but not in the immediate future but we have to give it ago.

Our other avenue is autologous stem cell transplant - which reboots the immune system, it is not a cure but the studies show that after this process, medications are more readily accepted and utilised by the body - meaning that standard drugs might work. Matthew and I have always been interested in this option, and studies so far are showing optimistic results with patients being able to take less complex medications ie. biologics with risks of cancers and death