Elgin native fighting brain ailment

Shannon Young is too scared to ask what it will cost to make her husband, Josh, right again.

Josh Young, 31, an Elgin native, has contracted Moyamoya, a brain syndrome that constricts a pair of arteries to the point that blood cannot flow through them to reach the rest of his brain.

He will soon undergo a pair of bypass surgeries to fix the problem.

The surgery on the left side of his brain is scheduled for Thursday or Friday at the University of Illinois Medical Center in Chicago.

The next surgery follows two months later, but for Josh Young, the operations cannot come soon enough.

“I just want this to be over with,” the Hampshire High School graduate said Monday. “I want to go home.”

Money, meanwhile, is very tight in the Young household.

The family has nine mouths to feed — four children are from Shannon Young’s previous marriage and the couple have three children together. The oldest is 21, while the youngest is 6 months old.

Shannon Young, 40, is a full-time student at Kishwaukee College in Malta, where she is studying to become a radiology technician.

They’re living off $2,800 a month in Social Security from Shannon Young’s late husband and relying on friends and relatives to look after their children. The Youngs, married for six years, live in Genoa.

“The kids are stressed,” Shannon Young said. “They want their daddy to come home.”

Josh Young, formerly an ammunition expert in the Army, was laid off two years ago from his construction/carpentry jobs but has picked up a series of odd jobs.

Since October, he had been working as a pizza delivery man at Papa John’s in St. Charles.

He cannot return to construction after the operations because hats and protective glasses will interfere with the blood flow to his brain, his wife said.

The couple have Medicaid, but Shannon Young is unsure if it will cover her husband’s operations.

“I don’t even want to know,” she said, adding that Josh has had a small stroke since his diagnosis Jan. 24.

“I just want him to get the treatment he needs before it’s too late.”