Helping More People in Need
Each year, The Assistance Fund (TAF) helps tens of thousands of people access the treatment they need to manage a life-threatening, chronic, or rare disease. The need is great, and despite helping more than 40,000 people last year, there are many more people who need help affording the care they need. For Ted, one of our top individual contributors in 2022, giving to TAF meant helping someone like his mom.
“I took some of my inheritance and gave it back to TAF because I knew, through my mom, it was very beneficial,” Ted said. “People really need the help to pay for treatment.”
Ted’s mom, Judy, taught English and then served as a guidance counselor in Omaha high schools for decades. Judy was passionate about travel, and she loved taking trips to Europe and South America. A true artist, Judy wrote poetry, was published in magazines, and picked up the paintbrush after she retired.
“She taught herself how to paint,” Ted said. “After she retired, she did ceramics and pottery, too.”
One day, Judy was driving when she suddenly crashed her car into a small tree. Emergency services arrived but Judy resisted their help, convinced she was fine. It wasn’t until she had a second seizure in front of the doctors and her daughter, Dawn, that she agreed to get medical help. She was diagnosed with epilepsy right away.
“My mom was a super independent person,” he said. “Epilepsy really crushed her and changed her whole life.”
Thankfully, Judy’s daughter, Dawn, was familiar with financial assistance from her work as an oncology nurse case manager at the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Ted said she relied on his sister to care for her. Though she wasn’t able to drive, Judy continued to write, draw, and paint.
“Those were tough years, but the main credit goes to my sister,” he said. “She’s very good at what she does.”
Dawn encouraged her mom to apply for The Assistance Fund’s Epilepsy Copay Assistance Program. The program provides eligible individuals with financial assistance for out-of-pocket costs for prescribed FDA-approved treatment, such as copays, deductibles, and coinsurance.
“Even after Medicare, her treatment was very expensive,” Ted said.
For more than two years, Judy received financial assistance from TAF. When Judy passed away in October 2021, people came out of the woodwork to share how Judy had touched their life.
“I never had that day-to-day classroom experience with my mom and her students,” he said. “Some of these people are 45 or 50 years old, so to know my mom had that effect on them is pretty phenomenal.”
Though Ted misses his mother, he said he wants to make sure other families can get the treatment they need. His generous donation ensures her memory lives on.
“It was amazing, whether people showed up at the funeral or sent me notes, how big an influence she had on their lives,” Ted said. “She was a great lady.”
