John Gailey, born 9/30/50. Married to Sheree Gailey in 1984 (soon to be 26 years!). Have 2 grown children, Ian and Gia, from a previous marriage and we have 4 grandchildren, ages 5,8,10, and 13 and one daughter, Chelsey, age 18, still at home.
John has been in the electrical industry since the age of about 19, and has been a member of the IBEW FW for over 30 years. He got into the baggage system industry in 1992 with a company called BAE Industries, and later with CAGE, INC, where he has now worked for about 11 years. John traveled extensively for Cage, supervising the electrical installation of baggage systems for American Airlines in many cities, including Denver , Toronto , NYC, Orlando , San Francisco , Chicago and more…
John first began feeling ill early in 2007, with extreme blood pressure and pain. He was erroneously diagnosed with heart disease, and took heart medications for over a year, but just got sicker and sicker. He worked all throughout 2008, while he just got worse, until November of 2008 when he finally got a correct diagnosis of end stage liver disease. He continued to work until the beginning of Jan 2009, when he just became so sick he couldn’t function any longer.
2009 has been a never ending journey of drs, hospitals, and medications. He has been completely unable to work since that time as well. He got approved for disability and receives a monthly disability check. His wife Sheree works part time, but cannot work full time due to the drs and general care of her husband. Their income has dropped dramatically while the expenses have risen dramatically. John was approved by Baylor Dallas for a liver transplant, and is currently on the waiting list….
How has this affected John and his family? 2009 had John bedfast for weeks on end, often unable to care for or feed himself, often being completely unaware of his surroundings or his loved ones. He has been in and out of the hospital, and Sheree has missed work to care for him. They have moved 2 family members in to help with his care as well. He has been completely unable to participate in any activities through all of 2009…no church, no ball games, no going out to eat or to the movies…2009 was spent just trying to stay alive.
2010 …he is awaiting his transplant, and the wonderful team at Baylor has him at least stable. Weak, and a lot of weight loss, but able to care for himself again, and walk, and do very small projects in the house. Still unable to drive or work, and has memory and concentration issues..
The transplant itself is another issue that we will deal with when it comes…In addition to the Transplant surgery itself, there is recovery, This is totally on an individual basis and depends on the patient. However the recovery time will most likely include more hospital time, hotel stays as well asn gas and food. So really we can not put a set amount on what their expenses will be or what will be needed.
The Gailey’s do not in any way want to burden anyone with this, but rather to make people aware of the severity of the disease, and the cost….to job, family, health, and relationships. We encourage everyone to look at organ donation, which we had never really thought about, until this came home to us.