President’s gesture ‘spoke of hope’ as IVCC champions graduate in health struggle

While most guys his age are nailing down job references or securing endorsements for college applications, Jonathan Hammond is asking for access to a drug that could save his life.

The 29-year-old from Peru is circulating an online petition in support of his quest for Imlifidase, a drug that would suppress an overreactive immune system so his body could accept a new kidney. Without the drug, the chances of finding an organ his body will not reject are slim, leaving him dependent on dialysis treatment.

Not long ago, Hammond was working full-time, but his health declined this past year and he stopped working. He tires easily so he does not enjoy the activities, like cooking or playing piano, that he used to do. “The simple stuff -- getting up and making a small breakfast -- takes a lot out of me.”

His poor health shattered his plans to graduate with his Illinois Valley Community College class in Spring 2024. But what hurt more than being overcome by illness and withdrawing from the ceremony minutes before it started was that he felt like he broke a promise to IVCC President Dr. Tracy Morris.

“I did not want you to think I didn’t fulfill my end of the bargain,” he would apologize in an email to her later.

Hammond met Morris at her investiture, and after the ceremony she invited him into one of her famous selfies. “Let’s take one now and another on Graduation Day,” she promised.

He remembers the impact her speech and personality had on him that day. “I felt so much hope and inspiration.”

After the Graduation Day plan fell through, and when Hammond was feeling better, Morris arranged a mini graduation ceremony for him. They posed for another selfie, she in her regalia and he in his cap and gown. Hammond still chokes up thinking of the gesture. “My mom and my friends got to come. That little interaction spoke of hope.”

Now Morris has reached out to friends, strangers and college employees to help by signing a change.org petition urging the Food and Drug Administration to consider making the Imlifidase supply available for individuals like Hammond who have this as their only option. Hammond said his doctors back the effort so he can become eligible for a transplant and receive an organ that has a chance to survive. Such pleas to bypass the FDA’s lengthy trial process usually come after all other options have been exhausted.

In the few weeks it has been posted, his petition has more than 400 signatures, some from as far away as Sweden. “I see that people want to help see this go through, not just for me but for thousands in similar situations.”

Hammond said Morris’ championship reflects how the College gave him strength to move forward when his life was overwhelming. At IVCC, Hammond found “a more inclusive and supportive environment than I have felt anywhere before and that gave me the tools to thrive academically even when my health struggles made things impossible.”

The short commute to IVCC’s campus fit into a day with 12-hour dialysis treatments and a job. College got him out of the house “and made me feel normal – like a real boy!” he quotes from Pinocchio.

Being housebound now has put his university studies on hold. “I cannot reach my academic potential at this point, but IVCC has me halfway there.”

E. coli food poisoning contracted when he was in pre-school triggered the autoimmune disease that caused his kidneys to fail and introduced him to dialysis and organ transplant lists. A photograph taken around that time shows a laughing curly-haired Hammond and his twin sister Taler dancing and tooting plastic music instruments while he is tethered to a dialysis machine.

“It was hard growing up with a chronic illness, but I did not know any different,” he remembers. “I went through my own ‘angry teenager’ period. I missed out on a lot, and I had to grow up fast.” Unlike his healthy sister, he often missed school and spent weeks in a hospital.

To the world, “I would hide my bad days and avoid talking about the bad parts, because I wanted to be someone who happened to have kidney disease, not be defined by it. I wanted to be known for other great things, like being a great piano player or being smart or kind or crafty.” Now he’s trying not to isolate himself from people who could help him and other transplant seekers.

This would be Hammond’s third transplant. His first came when he was 11, just before a cancer diagnosis and chemotherapy. He survived the cancer but lost the kidney. The second transplant in 2015 dialed up his optimism about a new lease on life. “I was attending school, had an internship, and was learning and growing and doing all I could. I had so much energy and freedom!”

That kidney failed after his insurer stopped paying for one immunosuppressive drug that kept rejection at bay, and he went back on dialysis for the fourth time in 25 years. The process now confines him to his room, attached to a machine that performs as his kidneys cannot.

He keeps busy with friends, family genealogy, and fashioning Christmas ornaments. When he can, playing music “takes me out of the gloom and doom and expresses what I feel.” But discouragement hovers. “Some days everything makes me mad and some days, it is what it is. I know I cannot control everything, but I can control doing my treatments that make me feel better."

Still, waiting is a roller coaster ride between hope and despair. He is cheered by comments on his petition. “I feel loved. And the one thing I have never felt in life is alone.”

His illness has reshaped his career goal. Now he wants to focus on helping all patients get the care and medications they need. “That is a wonderful life’s mission for me!”

Hammond’s petition can be found at change.org/imlifidaseforlife.