Doctors diagnosed Minnesota high school student Luke Wacohwiak with dermatomyositis and rheumatoid arthritis in 2022. Since then, he’s had to receive monthly five-hour IVIG infusions to fight the autoimmune condition.
“My bad experience with infusions. I kind of dreaded them. I felt isolated. My friends never had to deal with something like this,” said Wachowiak. “The main symptoms are rashes, fatigue and tiredness all the time.”
He’s now able to get home infusions, more comfortable than the on-site treatments he started with.
“When he’s getting these, they are chronic or long-term therapies and they do help reduce his symptoms,” said Dr. Susan Chhen, director of home infusion and compounding for Fairview Health Services.
Wachowiak is working on an app that he hopes will build connections with others in a similar situation. The app will be available next week.
“It’ll be launched in the App Store first,” said Wachowiak. “I realized there were a lot of other people across the country doing the same thing I was. So I figured I could connect with them on an online platform and we could pass the time together,” said Wachowiak.
With chat options, trivia games and even a tab to help you cope while getting poked by the needle, Together IV already has a waitlist of 110 people nationwide hoping to download.
When asked how he plans to market the app, he said, “That’s a big part of what we’ve been thinking of recently. I’ve sent a lot of emails to hospitals.”
“It feels unreal, honestly. Last year I would’ve never imagined it could’ve gotten this big,” said Wachowiak. “It just started as an idea”.
Wachowiak says he owes it all to his parents, classmate and co-founder, Logan, and the doctors who helped bounce ideas.
Together IV will be available in the Apple App Store and eventually on Google Play.
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