LAKEPORT >> After three deployments overseas in the U.S. Army, Lakeport resident Paul Joyce returned home to face a number of challenges.
Formerly diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a Improvised Explosive Device (IED) flipped his truck, Joyce was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver in May of last year. He is 35 years old.
“The doctors have said that I’m too young for this condition and it was most likely due to exposure to chemicals,” Joyce said. “All the military doctors overlooked it.”
Since the diagnosis, Joyce has been undergoing treatment at the University of California, San Francisco, (UCSF) while searching for a liver donor,
“The problem is if we get a donor, there are expenses,” Cari McCormick, Joyce’s mother, said.
McCormick has been Joyce’s caretaker, as well as driving him to weekly doctor appointments in San Francisco.
She has also set up a donation page at www.gofundme.com./s2mer4 to alleviate some of the costs associated with the transplant when a suitable donor is found.
Currently, two potential donors have come forward, one of which will begin tests and evaluations at UCSF next week.
Throughout his three deployments, one in Iraq and two in Afghanistan, Joyce worked disposing of IEDs, as well as arresting persons of interest and “escorting prisoners … for interrogation.”
It was during rest and relaxation after his first deployment that Joyce started noticing stress-related problems.
“I was having nightmares and my hallucinations would become very difficult to distinguish from reality,” Joyce said.
Out of fear of sleep, brought on by sleepwalking and night terrors, Joyce developed insomnia.
Furthermore, Joyce’s wife, Francesca, and 3-year-old daughter, Tayler, were forced to return to Germany to be close to family because Joyce has not received military benefits.
“This is another stress,” McCormick said. “He cannot take care of his family.”
However, after writing to Senator Barbara Boxer, Joyce has an appointment being arranged in to help him with getting medical benefits
“We have been waiting for years [for this appointment],” McCormick said. “This is where being in this state of California has definitely made a difference for him.”
Contact J. W. Burch, IV at 900-2022.
