In Memory of My Brother, I had to do Something

Hi, all. My brother, Jordan, passed away a little over a year ago, and it's still really hard for
me without him. We tried to look after each other....he was the last close family I had. He and I
(and our mom, and other relatives) all suffered with thyroid trouble that was either not caught
early enough, or treated well enough, or both. I believe my brother's undetected low thyroid helped
cause his liver to fail him...they are a few studies that connect liver function to thyroid. And I am
mad at everything that happened.

With a lot of struggle, we did finally get a doctor to diagnose Jordan with Hashimoto's thyroid
when he was first in the hospital in 2015 getting his liver diagnosis, and he did start on thyroid treatment
then. But it really was too late...he had low thyroid symptoms for years that weren't being picked up
by the typical tests, and I had to research and tell them to do blood tests for thyroid antibodies on
him, which is how he got diagnosed. This should have happened YEARS ago; Jordan did do somewhat
better when he started on thyroid treatment...but he needed it a lot sooner, and better meds would've
helped, too. Jordan ended up needing a liver transplant, which we couldn't get in time due to Covid.
I'm heartbroken; I still think better help for thyroid would've prevented a lot of this chaos.

And so, I created a petition to get better treatment for people with thyroid trouble. I'm hoping you'll
sign and share it. My petition asks the Biden Administration for funding for more research for thyroid;
help with earlier and better testing for diagnosis of thyroid problems; better education for doctors on
how treating the thyroid well can help prevent other health problems, etc. Petition link is:
https://www.change.org/ThyoidBetterTreatment Thank you for considering signing & sharing.

I really miss my brother and mom...I still struggle with thyroid. No one should go through this. Thanks, again.

 

So sorry Sally for your loss! lost my brother too 5 months ago and it left me shattered... we had a beautiful connection since I was born, so I can relate to how
devastated you are and frustrated too for him not getting the care he needed a lot sooner! miss my mom too, she passed on many years ago..

 

Thank you, Varda, and I'm so sorry for the loss of your brother, as well. It is so hard, I know what you mean about feeling shattered.
I lost my mom in 2005, and boy, I miss her, too....if she'd been here, she probably could've gotten through to my brother where I couldn't.
My dad's been gone since us kids were real little, from something called Hodgkin's Disease. Sorry for the loss of your mom, as well.

It's tough to go through all this...thank you for your kindness, and for responding back. I'm glad you and your brother had that special
connection. Not all siblings do....my brother and I did, even though I couldn't work with him right on everything. It's hard to lose a real good
brother like that, so I understand what you're going through on all that, too. Feel free to write me here, anytime.....I'm not even sure they
sent me a notification about your response...I just was looking around this website today, and I saw it....sorry for the delay in answering. Peace to you,
and me, as well....I could use some. SallyD