Wesley Higgins Heart Operation
Donation protected
For those of you who know me you probably do not know that I have an older brother, Wesley Higgins who is 55, that is in serious medical condition. I will make this as short as possible.
In Jan 2010 Wesley had a heart attack but thought things were okay. In November 2012 he had another heart attack and still thought things were going to be fine.
Then comes January 2016 when he has a major heart attack and the hospital gets him stabilized.
The doctors in Oklahoma City decide he needs a quintuple (5 vein) bypass and they do the operation in March 2016.
Very shortly after the quintuple bypass Wesley notices that he is having a very hard time breathing at which time the doctors realize his heart is not pumping enough fluid away from the heart and a lot of the fluid is backing up. They go in and check and find that one of the main veins has already blocked itself about 90%.
As they run more tests the doctors realize that the pericardium (a double walled sac around the heart) has grown very thick scar tissue and that scar tissue has made the sac to small for the heart and that is the reason the heart cannot beat properly to get the fluid away from his lungs so he started suffering from Congestive Heart Failure or CHF.
They also find out that the smaller tip of the heart is fully blocked and is getting no blood supply. With that being said the small tip of the heart is slowly dying away.
The doctors in OKC decide that this condition is very rare and that there is a doctor in the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota that specializes in these types of cases. This specialist basically removes the sac from around the heart so the heart can't fully beat and move all the fluids appropriately. If the operation does not occur and since the heart is bigger than the sac each time the heart beats it is like sand paper very slowly grinding the muscle wall away which will eventually stop it from beating.
All of the doctors talk and it was our understanding from the Mayo and OKC doctors that Mayo would do this surgery for free since Wesley did not have any kind of medical insurance and since he had been terminated from his job due to his health condition.
We waited for the surgery date and as of Monday of this week Mayo Administration decides the surgery will not be free and that an initial payment of $5000 will need to be paid up front and they will need an additional $5000 for expenses such as medication, traveling, etc... for a grand total of approximately $10,000.
Wesley's family does not have that kind of money so I decided to start a gofundme account and ask for donations to do our best to get the $10,000 so he can have the surgery and live as long as possible. We understand that once the surgery is done and the sac is removed he will have a much better chance at living for many years and can do just about anything he wants.
We would appreciate any money you can spare whether it is $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can do. If you can't afford anything that is perfectly fine too but we would like to ask that you share this so the word gets around.
Thank you all very much and please keep our family in your prayers as we try to get this surgery completed.
Here is the GoFundMe Account Link:
https://funds.gofundme.com/dashboard/2sfp2pmm
In Jan 2010 Wesley had a heart attack but thought things were okay. In November 2012 he had another heart attack and still thought things were going to be fine.
Then comes January 2016 when he has a major heart attack and the hospital gets him stabilized.
The doctors in Oklahoma City decide he needs a quintuple (5 vein) bypass and they do the operation in March 2016.
Very shortly after the quintuple bypass Wesley notices that he is having a very hard time breathing at which time the doctors realize his heart is not pumping enough fluid away from the heart and a lot of the fluid is backing up. They go in and check and find that one of the main veins has already blocked itself about 90%.
As they run more tests the doctors realize that the pericardium (a double walled sac around the heart) has grown very thick scar tissue and that scar tissue has made the sac to small for the heart and that is the reason the heart cannot beat properly to get the fluid away from his lungs so he started suffering from Congestive Heart Failure or CHF.
They also find out that the smaller tip of the heart is fully blocked and is getting no blood supply. With that being said the small tip of the heart is slowly dying away.
The doctors in OKC decide that this condition is very rare and that there is a doctor in the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota that specializes in these types of cases. This specialist basically removes the sac from around the heart so the heart can't fully beat and move all the fluids appropriately. If the operation does not occur and since the heart is bigger than the sac each time the heart beats it is like sand paper very slowly grinding the muscle wall away which will eventually stop it from beating.
All of the doctors talk and it was our understanding from the Mayo and OKC doctors that Mayo would do this surgery for free since Wesley did not have any kind of medical insurance and since he had been terminated from his job due to his health condition.
We waited for the surgery date and as of Monday of this week Mayo Administration decides the surgery will not be free and that an initial payment of $5000 will need to be paid up front and they will need an additional $5000 for expenses such as medication, traveling, etc... for a grand total of approximately $10,000.
Wesley's family does not have that kind of money so I decided to start a gofundme account and ask for donations to do our best to get the $10,000 so he can have the surgery and live as long as possible. We understand that once the surgery is done and the sac is removed he will have a much better chance at living for many years and can do just about anything he wants.
We would appreciate any money you can spare whether it is $5, $10, $20 or whatever you can do. If you can't afford anything that is perfectly fine too but we would like to ask that you share this so the word gets around.
Thank you all very much and please keep our family in your prayers as we try to get this surgery completed.
Here is the GoFundMe Account Link:
https://funds.gofundme.com/dashboard/2sfp2pmm
Organiser
Scott Higgins
Organiser
Holdenville, OK
