Category: Julian Baker

The GoFundMe site raising money for Jason Taylor Martinez’s struggle with bone cancer, stomach cancer, brain cancer, steel rods in his knees and back, seizures, waiting for a lung transplant and, of course, rusty blood, is still up.  I’ve reported it a few times, and I know a few other people have done the same.  So far, I’ve had no response from GoFundMe, but they do include this disclaimer on their website about guaranteeing the legitimacy of fundraising pages.

Jason and Julian made the Facebook group raising awareness of their fundraiser secret.  Members of the group have questioned the couple quite a bit, including this exchange.

Here’s Jason and Julian on October 24th.  This picture was posted by their roommate, who tagged Jason in the photograph.

Julian’s claim that Jason hasn’t had chemotherapy since last year contradicts what Jason told me last week.  He said he had chemotherapy for stomach cancer five years ago, and has had two radiation and two chemotherapy sessions lately.

 

Last night, Jason Taylor Martinez, rusty blood sufferer,  posted an update on his GoFundMe fundraiser page.

He also sent me a message claiming that he never said he had Medicaid and insisting that he has Medicare.

 

Two days ago, I specifically asked Jason why he didn’t qualify for Medicare.  This was the answer I received.

In the original text of his GoFundMe page, Julian claimed that Jason had no insurance at all.  This was pointed out in the comments of the 7000 member closed Facebook group that Julian made to call attention to Jason’s plight.

Incidentally, even if Jason is on Medicare, there’s no way he’d have a $2000 copay at each of his chemotherapy appointments.  At most, he’d be responsible for 20% of the costs of chemotherapy, and there are supplemental insurance programs that he’d be eligible to join where the costs not covered by Medicare would be covered.

Jason and Julian have seven Fundly pages set up to raise money for Jason’s cancer treatment.  Granted, all of them have a goal of $45 total, so the sheer number of them might be an accident.

There is also a German language fundraiser set up for the couple, although it has no donors.

As of now, the GoFundMe fundraiser, which had been shared on Facebook over 15,000 times as of yesterday, is still active.  I’d encourage anyone who donated to the fundraiser to contact GoFundMe and voice your concerns.

Just in case it’s deleted, here’s a saved copy of the GoFundMe.  Here is a saved list of all the donors– note how many of them say how little they have but how much they feel compelled to help Jason and Julian.

Here’s a copy of the couple’s attempts to raise money for a car.

And here are screenshots of the Facebook group set up to raise awareness for their fundraisers.

A new collage was posted yesterday.