MEQUON, Wisc., Aug. 03, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — REACT19 today announced a $100,000 matching campaign to replenish its CARE Fund, the nation’s only medical grant program dedicated to helping Americans living with severe, long-term COVID-19 vaccine injuries.
The announcement comes as demand for assistance has increased 33 percent over the past year. The CARE Fund is currently exhausted and closed, leaving six patients waiting for immediate medical grants and another fifteen already in the queue seeking help with treatments, physician visits, medical equipment, and other life-saving care often unavailable through insurance.
Now, thanks to a generous donor, every dollar given through the end of September will be matched, dollar for dollar, up to $100,000.
Compassion Today. Healing Tomorrow.
For many families, that compassion cannot come soon enough.
A Media Snippet accompanying this announcement is available by clicking on this link.
Five years ago, Haley was exactly where every parent hopes their child will be. She was a straight-A student at the University of Miami, had just won her age division in a half marathon, was interning at a leading public relations firm, and had accepted her dream job after graduation. Her future seemed limitless.
Today, her life revolves around medical treatments.
She can no longer digest solid food. She lives with debilitating neurological and vascular complications, extensive nerve damage, vision problems, and chronic pain. She has traveled across the United States searching for specialists and spent months hospitalized overseas receiving treatments unavailable in America. The cost has consumed her family’s savings and retirement, and she was forced to leave the career she worked so hard to build after only nine months.
“I have had to grieve not only the life I once had, but also the future I always envisioned for myself,” Haley wrote in her CARE Fund application. “Receiving this grant would allow me to continue the treatments that have given me hope and hopefully, finally press play on the life that has been paused for the past five years.”
Haley is one of six people currently waiting for CARE Fund assistance.
She is not alone.
David, a Juilliard-trained professional musician, now works only two days each week because of debilitating illness after his vaccination. “Instead of advancing in what should be the prime of my life,” he wrote, “I spend nearly all of my financial resources on doctors, testing, and treatments in an effort to regain even a fraction of the life I once had.”
Mickie, once a lifelong competitive bowler and high school bowling coach, exhausted her savings pursuing treatments that briefly restored her energy before becoming financially out of reach. “My brain fog was gone. I was alert. My energy was back. I felt like brand new,” she wrote. “Unfortunately, I had exhausted all expendable funds.”
Peter spent years searching for answers before finally finding a treatment that improved his health, but only after depleting much of his savings. “I am much healthier now,” he said, “but at a high cost to my wallet and emotional well-being.”
These stories reflect a growing crisis facing thousands of Americans who continue to live with complex medical conditions years after their vaccinations. Many have depleted retirement accounts, sold homes, accumulated debt, or left careers while searching for physicians willing to treat them. Government compensation programs have failed to provide meaningful assistance for many of these patients, leaving charitable organizations like REACT19 to fill the gap.
The CARE Fund has become a lifeline, helping patients access physician consultations, IVIG, rehabilitation therapies, diagnostic testing, medical equipment, medications, travel for specialized care, and other treatments that are often financially out of reach.
One family that understands that lifeline better than most is the de Garay family.
At just twelve years old, Maddie de Garay volunteered for a COVID-19 vaccine clinical trial. Before participating, she was a healthy, energetic child who loved soccer, dancing, and spending time with friends. After becoming critically ill, she endured multiple hospitalizations, emergency room visits, surgeries, lost the ability to walk, and required a feeding tube. Her mother, Stephanie, left her career to become Maddie’s full-time caregiver while the family relocated across the country to access specialized neurological rehabilitation.
The CARE Fund helped provide medical equipment insurance would not cover, assisted with physician costs, and helped continue the IVIG treatments that gave Maddie her first meaningful improvement.
“Your generosity didn’t just purchase equipment or help pay medical bills,” Stephanie said. “It gave us hope during one of the hardest chapters of our lives and reminded us that we were not fighting this battle alone.”
Stephanie says that is exactly why this campaign matters.
“Although many people recognize Maddie’s story, there are thousands of others quietly living this same nightmare. Their stories may never make headlines, but their experiences are strikingly similar, and their needs are just as real. Every time I speak with another family, I see pieces of Maddie—and pieces of myself—in their story.”
She added, “Life doesn’t stop when you’re caring for someone with complex medical needs—or when you are the one who is injured. There are still bills to pay, meals to cook, children to raise, and responsibilities that don’t disappear. I know what it feels like when someone reaches out and says, ‘We’re still here. We haven’t forgotten you.’ That is what REACT19 has become for so many families.”
Since launching the CARE Fund, REACT19 has awarded more than $1.8 million in direct medical grants to Americans struggling with severe COVID-19 vaccine injuries. Beyond financial assistance, the organization has built one of the nation’s largest physician referral networks for vaccine injury care, supports research into diagnosis and treatment, and advocates for policies that improve recognition and care for affected patients.
“This work isn’t going away because the need hasn’t gone away,” Stephanie said. “As long as families continue searching for answers, treatment, and hope, REACT19 will continue standing beside them.”
Every donation made through September 30 will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $100,000.
For the six patients waiting today—and the fifteen already hoping for tomorrow—that support cannot come soon enough.
When government systems fall short, communities have an opportunity to step forward.
Compassion Today. Healing Tomorrow.
To support the CARE Fund and have your gift doubled, visit: www.react19.org/donate
Interviews with CARE Fund participants are available upon request.
Media Contact:
Brianne Dressen
Co-Founder, REACT19
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