Fundraiser Set For Oakley Boy Battling Kawasaki Disease

A fundraiser for 7-year-old John Weekly who is battling Kawasaki Disease will be held on Tuesday, April 30 at Black Bear Diner to help pay medical bills for the family who is in dire need of assistance. For $10, you can get a TO GO only steak sandwich and potato salad.

Note: They are currently in the process of finalizing the numbers so be sure to contact them ASAP and info is below

John Weekly, an Oakley resident, has been in and out of the hospital since February and is currently undergoing treatment for the disease that doctors had trouble diagnosing in its early stages.

In speaking with Sakari Weekly, John’s mother, she explained how he was not feeling good in the first week of February. She estimates they have been at a hospital 90% of the days since February 3.

“We thought it was just the flu. His stomach was hurting and he was vomiting. He also had a temperature of 105 degrees. He was not eating or drinking. Originally, doctors tried to treat with amoxicillin,” said Weekly.

Early symptoms of the disease appeared to be the flu and doctors and sent him home. After another visit, it as upgraded to potential Scarlett Fever. After they sent him home a second time it then turned into a nightmare for the family that has not stopped.

“The next day he couldn’t stand or talk. We tried to stand him up and he fell to the ground,” explained Weekly.

John was rushed to Sutter Delta Hospital as his hands and feet swelled up, a rash was dark and the 7-year-old was lethargic and couldn’t communicate.  His temperature then spiked to 108-109 degrees. Doctors at Sutter then diagnosed it as Kawaski Disease and immediately transferred care to Children’s Hospital in Oakland.

Kawasaki disease (KD), is an autoimmune disease in which the medium-sized blood vessels throughout the body become inflamed. It is largely seen in children under five years of age. It affects many organ systems, mainly those including the blood vessels, skin, mucous membranes, and lymph nodes; however its rare but most serious effect is on the heart where it can cause fatal coronary artery aneurysms in untreated children.

There is a treatment. But there’s this ticking clock.

There’s a 10-day window that you have to get this treatment in to save your kid’s heart. It’s called IVIG. So through an IV drip for 12 hours, they give kids a protein solution that’s made from human blood. It takes 10,000 blood donors to create a batch and out of that batch, a lot of kids will get treated. Each kid is getting the benefit of the immunity from 10,000 donors and what that does is it reduces inflammation in the body.

Sarkari Weekly explained from that point, he spent three-weeks in the hospital. The disease caused Johns skin to fall off—similar to that of dry skin on the bottom of ones feet when it gets raw. In Johns case,  his skin came off from head to toe.  During those three weeks, doctors kept routine checks which at times meant every 15-minutes due to the need of critical care.

After being released, three days later, John ended up back to hospital with blood in urine, stomach ache and spent another week in the hospital.  This time, surgery was required as the small intestine went into the large intestine.

Sakari explained that finally her son came back to normal, but his hair was falling out big dosage of steroids to treat twice a day. He is still having problems with his skin and intestines.

While he may be getting better, he is still not out of the woods.

Last Thursday, they received a call from UCSF after a blood testing urging the family to immediately bring him back to the hospital. He was admitted on April 18 for treatment and released on April 21.

According to his mother, prior to this disease,  John was a very outgoing kid, loved sports, had a great personality and very friendly. In fact, they signed him up for East County Little League this year, but he could not play due to the disease.

East County Little League is trying to raise awareness to help the family who has now been hit with financial problems as both Sarkari and her husband Bryant Weekly Jr. have lost their jobs due to the time spent at the hospital. They are also struggling with the cost of  gas, food, and bridge tolls. Weekly said she was terminated due to job attendance–it should be noted, her attendance issue was due to taking care of her son.

Although they have been hit with tough times, she said she was proud to live in Oakley because we have a very giving community and have helped make her feel better during this time.

“I am really appreciative for the outreach by East County Little League, it really made me happy because I did not see this happening at all. Before we heard about this fundraiser we were just praying and talking and wondering what are we going to do with medical bills and basically taking care of other kids, and our life. Is our son going to be okay?” stated Weekly.

Weekly did admit she and her husband are both looking for work but a lot of their time is spent traveling to and from hospitals for blood work and additional tests.

Melissa Su’esu’e heard of John’s story and immediately wanted to help. Their kids have played on the same basketball team and been involved with sports leagues for years.

“Our kids played on the same CYO basketball team and one day I came across the East County Little League newsletter and knew I had to reach out to the family. I was ready to take a jar around the baseball field and collect donations for the family,” said Su’esu’e.

“The players become friends when they are on a team. It’s like a family. Since I met them on basketball, you just love the kids. It’s like a family and that is with any sport—especially east county. Everyone is awesome as they try and help everyone,” explained Su’esu’e. “They are our sports family”.

Brenda D’Amico of Black Bear Diner was quick to give credit to the East County Hot Shots for the fundraiser saying they are only providing a space, they are doing the hard work.

“We want to do whatever we can to help. If its providing a space to raise some funds, that is the least we can do,” said D’Amico.

Sakari is thankful to Black Bear Diner for providing the space and credits the East County Hot Shots as performing “all the hard work” as Johns sister is on the 12U team.  The Hot Shots will be working the event and volunteering to give out food.

In speaking to Hot Shots 12U General Manager Dave Carter, he called this a heart breaker and a case of where everything happened at one time.  Carter says its a case where we are trying to get them a little bit of help.

“The father just lost his job at Comcast just before John had to go into hospital. His mom just changed jobs and fired her because she couldn’t work often enough because her time was spent at the hospital with her son. So there both unemployed and children hospital is killing them with medical bills and collections kicking in,” explained Carter.

Carter did say that there is an impact, but in a positive way as it has helped bring the team closer together.

“Our team makes dinners when we can, help with rides to practice. It’s bringing everyone closer together. They are real good people who work hard and all this stuff just happened at once. It’s pretty devastating when a child is in the hospital,” explained Carter.  “it’s a real heart breaker”.

Fundraiser Info

The fundraiser deadline is set for tomorrow to allow Black Bear Diner a chance to order the meat, but according to Darrel Saunders, they will take orders through the weekend for any last minute folks who want to participate.

Please reach out to Darrel Saunders by calling (925) 457-8949 at [email protected].

Fundraiser Info

If you have any questions about Tuesdays event, please reach out to Darrel Saunders at [email protected].