EAST COBB, Ga. — Marietta resident Dominick Francois said his father, Michael, is no stranger to Cobb County.
“He’s pretty well known around this area. He's got a really big personality,” Dominick said. “He coached Eastside baseball for years. I played baseball my entire life, he was very involved with that. He went to all the Walton games as well.”
A former athlete himself, Michael liked to stay involved around town, but everything changed for him in 2017.
“He started getting really sick,” Dominick said. “He was complaining that his feet were hurting a lot, so went to the doctor and they told him his bones in his feet had completely collapsed.”
Michael was diagnosed with Charcot foot, a condition which causes the bones to gradually weaken. The family was told surgery was the only option.
“We found a surgeon in Chicago that said they could do it, but it didn't quite work out,” Dominick said. “It was just too expensive.”
Michael decided to fight it without surgery, but his health kept deteriorating.
“I’ve been kind of taking care of him by myself for the past year or two because he doesn't have any family,” Dominick said. “He just kept getting worse and worse and the sepsis really started getting to him. Three months ago, he started getting really bad. He wasn't able to even get out of his bed at that point. I had to make him food, I had to clean for him. He couldn't do anything.
Michael returned to the hospital, but the information was the same.
“They said he was not going to live if he did not have the surgery,” Dominick said.
That’s when Dominick and his girlfriend, Corrine, decided to create a GoFundMe page.
“I had been thinking about it for a long time but I didn't feel like it was the right time to do it yet,” Dominick said. “I was a little afraid that it wasn't going to work and it would be disappointing.”
But, he says, they had gotten to a point where they had no other option. The GoFundMe page went live on November 21, 2019.
“That night, I think it was already up by $3,000 or so, and it just kept going,” Dominick said. “Now, we're over $7,000 – almost to our goal of $10,000.”
Michael went ahead and had the surgery in which both his legs were removed. Dominick said his dad is doing well in his recovery, but there are still medical expenses on the horizon, which is why the fundraiser continues.
“[The money] is going into his cost for the assisted living, because it's not covered by Medicaid or insurance or anything like that,” Dominick said. “It will go into his physical therapy as well.”
To learn more about Michael Francois and how you can help, CLICK HERE.
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