Greetings. This is Kevin Rashid Johnson. I’m calling from the Virginia prison system here in state prison. I’m calling in to seek some assistance from supporters, comrades. I have, um, you know, an ongoing medical situation. A lot of folks probably remember when I was fighting to get treatment for prostate cancer, which took over a year and a half before the treatment actually began and only came about because of public pressure, you know, people’s responses to work didn’t help that they essentially were refusing to be cared for.
So I have another medical situation that’s kind of compounded by that. I believe that I have chronic heart failure. Symptoms first developed during last year, approximately June, July, when my extremities, my lower legs, feet, and ankles started swelling up really bad. At one point, I had to be rushed to the hospital after, you know, people started protesting that they weren’t doing anything.
And the emergency room people expressed concern that I may have been suffering either renal problems, or that I have kidney disorder. Um, there was something wrong with my heart. So, referred me to the urology clinic at the hospital in that area, which was the medical college of Virginia. The referral was never followed up on.
Okay, further symptoms developed as time went on. The swelling continued, but I also developed, you know, chronic chest pain, rapid breathing, fatigue, chronic fatigue, also symptoms of chronic cough.
So, during the time that I was going for my cancer treatment, my cancer physician, uh, Dr. Alfredo Urgoletta, he, you know, commented that I was showing symptoms that he felt were cardiac related. So, he referred me to the cardiology clinic at that hospital. This was during June, about June 19th of this year.
The institution, upon seeing his referral, documented the referral, ordered that my feet and ankles be massaged once per week, as per the the referral to the cardiac clinic. That referral was never followed up on. My symptoms have become worse, um, and all medical professionals that I’ve spoken to about or observed my symptoms have expressed concern that I have chronic heart failure.
Untreated, it can prove fatal at any time. It can cause, you know, heart attacks, strokes. Even with it treated, the, um, average life expectancy It’s a person treated for chronic heart failure for about five years, so it’s a sick condition. Uh, it’s where, you know, your body can’t expel fluid. Fluid starts to build up in your lungs, etc.
And that’s the cause of the weight gain, the swelling, or what they call edema, the swelling of your extremities, that sort of thing. I was transferred here to Rita. Um, Recently, I believe, you know, because people felt that they were going to be pressured to give me medical treatment and they wanted to force stop that.
I guess they feel like they’ve been spending money on my cancer treatment. So I’m being refused all care. I’m not receiving any treatment, no referral, no diagnostics, and I’m just sitting here. With this condition, you know, dealing with the symptoms. So I need all possible help, um, getting medical treatment, getting referred back to the hospital, being seen by cardiology.
Um, so that’s my request to folks, if I could get some help and support about this medical condition. Thank you, and all power to the people.
