Justin's battle with Lemierre's Syndrome: 2013

Saturday, September 28, 2013

Little Zack!

Prayers are needed for 15 year old Zack here in St. Louis. He was diagnosed with lemierre's yesterday!

Tuesday, September 3, 2013

We have 50 tickets left for the Cardinals vs Cubs game Sunday Sept 29th at 1:15pm. This is Lemierres Awareness Day at Busch Stadium! These tickets are $20 each and you will receive a voucher for a free game for next year as well. So you are paying $20 for 2 Cardinal's games! We will be throwing out the first pitch and teaching over 25,000 people about Lemierre's! Come help us!

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

Lemierrie's Awareness day at Busch Stadium!!!!

I am so excited! Lemierre's Awareness night at Busch Stadium is a GO!!!! We are selling tickets to the Cards vs Cubs game at 1:15pm on SUNDAY Sept 29 (last home game of the season), how perfect the day after Justin's Birthday!!!! This is NOT a fundraiser we are doing this for awareness! If we sell 500 tickets they will announce our non profit and Lemierre's AND someone will get to throw out the first pitch on our behalf!!!! These tickets are in Section 228 -231 face value of $44 and we are selling them for $20!!! Email us and I will give you more details. You can barely even PARK at the game for $20 this is an amazing steal!

JERFoundation@yahoo.com

Thursday, April 25, 2013

It's been 5 years since my little (bigger than me) brother fell sick with this disease! I remember being so confused and scared and thinking "no way God would do this to my family again!" You see I had lost 2 sisters at a very young age from different events. So when I got the call to come say my final goodbye to my 17 year old FULL of life brother I just couldn't believe it! I remember thinking when I walked in his room and saw everyone crying and upset, thinking what the HELL is going on! He is going to be fine! You all are wrong! And then he took his last breath. He waited for me to get there to say goodbye! I will always be grateful for that. He passed away on my 1 year wedding anniversary and the day after mother's day! Spring time always tugs at my heart because while everything else on this earth is coming to life and blooming my brother was lying in a hospital bed dying! I had to do something, my family wanted to share his story and I can't believe how many other families out there have gone through this very thing and had to deal with this disease!! But running this foundation has been a HUGE help in dealing with the pain of losing him! My kids still talk about him and my 3 year old looks and ACTS just like him! We love you Justin and always will! I can't wait to see you on the other side!

I received 85 replies of dates and location of where the LS patients are!! Thank you!! I am going to start pinning the map today I ill post pictures when I am done! If you have not yet let me know your location and year you were diagnosed with LS please do ;0) If you already did please do not do it again. Thank you!!! If anyone is interested I have these wrist bands for sale $3.00 each. We accept PayPal only. xoxoxo Thank you everyone for helping us in our fight!

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

New email address!!!

Justin E Rodgers Foundation has a new email address!!! if you want to contact us for any reason; share your story, ask a question, start a fundraiser ANYTHING email us at
JERFoundation @yahoo.com

I created this email address so that the other officers of our non profit can check it and reply back to you all. That way it is not left 100% up to me! ;0)

Thank you!!!!

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Lemierre's Map

I want to start a map and see where everyone is from that has had Lemierre's. I tried to keep track from all of your emails you have sent me but it just became to hard. ;0(

If you yourself have had Lemierre's please let me know the year you had it along city and state you lived in at the time you had it. If you are commenting for a friend or family member that had it please make sure they did NOT already comment with this info. I don't want to double up on the info! ;0) For any friends or family that have had a member of their family pass away due to Lemierre's please take a moment and let me know this info for them.

Thank you xoxoxox!

I also have this posted to our facebook page so please do not comment in both places.

If you have not liked us yet on facebook please do so! AND share the page with all your friends.

Justin's news article in the West Magazine

This was taken from http://www.westnewsmagazine.com/news02.html

Rockwood student dies rapidly from little-known disease
By Diane Plattner

In April, Eureka High School student Justin Rodgers began to complain of a severe sore throat and was dead approximately one month later from an unfamiliar disease. Now, his mother hopes to spread awareness about the deadly disease.
Justin died in the early morning hours of May 12, the day after Mother’s Day, after losing a battle with Lemierre’s Syndrome, a serious bacteria that is not well-known and even doctors are prone to misdiagnose the disease. Unfortunately, Rodgers’ doctor was among that group after initially diagnosing him with strep throat on April 11, said Sheryl Rodgers, Justin’s mother.
“Justin had said, ‘Mom, this is the worst sore throat I’ve ever had in my life,’” Rodgers said.
She said that Justin’s doctor took no throat culture and gave her son medicine for strep throat. She said her son’s condition worsened over the next few days during which he had increased high fever, chest pain and a lump in his neck. On April 14, Rodgers took her son to St. Anthony’s Hospital, which transported him overnight to Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital where he underwent extensive testing, including X-rays and blood work, Rodgers said.
Rodgers said that hospital officials diagnosed him with Lemierre’s Syndrome, a bacteria that can surface after mouth trauma. Last July, Justin was in a car accident that resulted in mouth injuries that required him to get major dental work, including a recent new tooth. In addition, Justin had suffered a broken nose just before the onset of his sore throat, his mother said.
“I wonder if all this woke up the bacteria, which was already living in the body,” Rodgers said.
The last time Rodgers saw him fully awake was a few days later, when hospital officials decided to place her son on a respirator and sedate him with drugs.
“He was out of it but still with us then,” Rodgers said. “He would frown when the doctors worked on him. So he had some responses.”
However, Justin’s lungs kept collapsing, prompting hospital doctors by April 25 to place him on an ECMO machine to help rest his lungs and heart. Doctors at that point also put him into an induced coma, Rodgers said.
“At that point there was no response from Justin,” Rodgers said. “Still, I talked to him and rubbed his sore spots to let him know we were there.”
By Mother’s Day, Justin was leaking too much blood, prompting doctors to decide to remove him from the ECMO, a move they said was risky if his lungs were not healed enough.
“Once they took him off the ECMO, Justin’s face was getting gray,” Rodgers said. “He was holding his own for a few hours, but then he starting going downhill.”
Justin died early the next morning following Mother’s Day with his immediate family, including three older siblings, by his side, Rodgers said.
“He was our baby,” Rodgers said. “I think the hospital tried to keep him going so he did not die on Mother’s Day.”
The tragedy is not the first for the Rodgers family. They also lost a 4-year-old child in a horseback riding accident and had a stillborn child many years ago, Rodgers said.
“I thought God could not possibly do this to us again,” Rodgers said. “I asked why again, why us. But there is no answer. Here we are walking on egg shells again.”
Rodgers said she was at least thankful that Justin’s funeral was so big that people were standing outside, a huge tribute to his life. She also hopes to honor his life with a campaign to help spread awareness about Lemierre’s Syndrome, which she said often hits people between the ages of 14 and 25. It is not spread by kissing but instead lives in the body, she said. Her goal is to make people, including doctors, more aware of its symptoms so they are not mistaken for strep throat.
“I do not want Justin to have died in vain,” Rodgers said. “This is one bad bacteria. It is very serious. People should not treat it lightly.”
To learn more about Lemierre’s Syndrome, visit the Rodgers’ family Web site at lemierresyndromejrodgers.blogspot.com.

The meaning behind the Camouflage

We thought that the camouflage colors would fit in perfectly with helping us describe Lemierre's Syndrome. This disease hides in other illnesses and is very hard to diagnose. That is why some lose their battle b/c it just simply takes to long for Dr's or other medical personnel to diagnose patients. In Justin's case it took almost over 2 weeks from the first day he was ill to diagnose him with Lemierre's Syndrome. This illness hides in your body and disguises itself as other illnesses sometimes mono, strep throat or just your average viral infection.

Justin's Bio ~ from Tammy

Where do I start! This is Tammy Justin's oldest sister, I was 11 when Justin was born. I was so excited; any little girl that age wants to have a baby in the house to love on. & that is exactly what I did. When he was old enough to talk he called me mommy! Any time my mom would punish him he would say "I'm gonna tell my Tammy!" There was one song that my mom, my friend Sarah & I would sing to him to calm him down. Justin the Bee!Justin was always happy & always got what he wanted "because he is the baby" my mom would say. LOL As I moved out and started my own family Justin & I started growing apart. What 19 year old wants her 8 year old brother hanging around? ;0) I will never forget when I told him I was pregnant with Allen (my oldest). He looked at me & said "YES, I'm gonna be a dad!" We immediately set him straight! "No, you’re going to be an uncle." But he was more then an uncle to my little one, he was like a big brother. He loved teaching Allen new things & they use to aggravate the living daylights out of each other! I use to get so frustrated w/ Justin. "LEAVE HIM ALONE" I use to say. He would get Allen all hyped up.Justin's hobbies are wake boarding, snow boarding, hanging out with his friends & family, listening to music & anything else a normal 17 year old LOVES to do. He was always happy & out going unless my mom or dad wouldn't give him what he wanted!! ;0) He was amazing on the water w/ that wake board & watching him on that tube was so funny! He was honestly your typical teenage boy that loved to get in trouble & have FUN!