Friend Launches GoFundMe Campaign To Help Eddie Fischer

By Darrell Mak

This past October, Pasadena resident Krissie Fischer received the bleak news that she would lose assistance from Maryland Medicaid that had been paying for urgently needed nursing care for her son, Eddie Fischer, who is a quadriplegic who also suffers from cerebral palsy and other serious ailments. Aiming to help with the dire situation, Krissie’s childhood friend and fellow Pasadena native, Deana Robertson, has started a GoFundMe campaign to help raise funds for Eddie’s nursing care.

“None of us can understand why Maryland Medicaid thinks he doesn’t need care,” said Robertson. “It’s so sad.”

After initially being notified that Maryland Medicaid funding would stop, Krissie spent thousands of dollars to hire a lawyer to appeal, but she unfortunately lost the case in October. “Krissie is a fighter, but this one stung,” Robertson attested.

Eddie graduated from the Kennedy Krieger Institute in June and is no longer attending school. “He’s very smart,” touted Robertson. Neither she nor Krissie understands the exact reason Maryland Medicaid terminated funding for Eddie’s continued nursing-care expenses, although they suspect it might be that he was no longer in school or because Eddie, who turned 21 this year, reached a certain age.

Krissie now has had to quit her job to devote full-time care to Eddie, who also relies on assistance from family and friends to get in and out of bed each day.

“There are many other factors to his health,” added Robertson, including seizures, sleep disorder, and breathing issues as well as feeding disorders with reflux disease and superior mesenteric artery syndrome, a rare and potentially life-threatening gastrovascular disorder.

Eddie’s complex health situation requires dedicated care. Although he can nod for yes and no, “he uses his body to communicate, and it takes a long time to understand his unique sounds,” explained Robertson.

Robertson has helped fundraise for Eddie in the past. A couple years ago, she organized a restaurant fundraiser to help Eddie obtain specialized van transportation. This time, Robertson hopes to raise $20,000 to help Eddie get nursing assistance for eight hours a day, which would allow Krissie, a single mother of two with a 5-year-old son as well, to return to work and avoid the possibility of losing her home if she is not able to get back to work soon.

“Krissie has kicked butt in raising these kids all by herself,” emphasized Robertson. “She has never had to be on welfare or use food stamps.”

Eddie’s GoFundMe campaign can be found at www.gofundme.com/please-help-eddie-get-a-nurse.

“Please help Eddie get a nurse,” pleaded Robertson. “Any amount is not too small.”