Family & Friends,
We’ve struggled as a family to find the words and strength to explain what has been going on with our fathers health over the past two months.
We were given advice from our transplant social worker to start a gofundme ASAP, because many families waiting for a transplant simply cannot afford it. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to ask people for help in these situations. We ask our loved ones to please consider donating to help us cover some of the costs that involve a heart pump, heart & kidney transplant, medicine & hospital stay. Insurance will cover a lot of these costs, but not all. We are trying to fundraise this amount to help us pay these bills.
Our journey started on Sunday, April 8th. Guy was rushed to the hospital where he went into cardiac arrest. He was put in Lawrence Hospitals ICU unit in very critical condition where he began the fight for a second chance in life. The first 24 hours were the toughest. Even when the doctors told us there was no hope, he beat the odds with a heart only functioning 25% and kidney at 13%. After 3 days of being in very critical condition, he started to make progress and we believed he was "out of the woods". We prayed and thanked God for his second chance in life.
Sunday, April 15th, we celebrated Kathy & Guys 40th Wedding Anniversary together in the ICU Unit. It was a day of laughter, tears, gratefulness and pure love. We knew we were blessed to get through the past week together as a family.
Our celebration was short lived, hours later Guy went into cardiac arrest for a second time. After a day and a half of getting him stable enough, we transferred him to Columbia Presbyterian Hospitals CCU Unit.
Every day Guy woke up, he decided it was another day to continue to fight and turn his life around. The universe tried to take him from us twice and this was a blessing from God that it was not time for him to leave us.
Unfortunately, he is very sick. After many tests and conversations with the doctors, they have determined he will need a heart and kidney transplant. Even with all of this difficult news, Guy is optimistic and hopeful to make a difference in this world. As a family, we are also determine to help him make that difference.
Currently in Columbias CICU unit, he is on dialysis and a lot of medication to help his heart pump. On June 1st, he had surgery to have an LVAD pump put in as a ‘bridge to transplant’. This will help keep his heart keep going until a donor becomes available. (https://www.mylvad.com/content/what-lvad-how-does-it-work)
If you know Guy, you know that he truly has the biggest heart in the world. He takes care of everyone else before he even considers taking care of himself. One of his favorite things to do is give out nicknames - he has given every nurse and doctor one already! As the nurses wheeled him into surgery on June 1st, they gave him a standing ovation.
This gofundme is to help us cover the costs of the LVAD pump surgery, heart/kidney transplant surgery, and a lifetime of medication.
Lets help give the man with the biggest heart get a new healthy one.
Thank you all so much!
Love,
The Riccardi Family
Please repost and share with the hashtag #WeHeartOurGuy
We’ve struggled as a family to find the words and strength to explain what has been going on with our fathers health over the past two months.
We were given advice from our transplant social worker to start a gofundme ASAP, because many families waiting for a transplant simply cannot afford it. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to ask people for help in these situations. We ask our loved ones to please consider donating to help us cover some of the costs that involve a heart pump, heart & kidney transplant, medicine & hospital stay. Insurance will cover a lot of these costs, but not all. We are trying to fundraise this amount to help us pay these bills.
Our journey started on Sunday, April 8th. Guy was rushed to the hospital where he went into cardiac arrest. He was put in Lawrence Hospitals ICU unit in very critical condition where he began the fight for a second chance in life. The first 24 hours were the toughest. Even when the doctors told us there was no hope, he beat the odds with a heart only functioning 25% and kidney at 13%. After 3 days of being in very critical condition, he started to make progress and we believed he was "out of the woods". We prayed and thanked God for his second chance in life.
Sunday, April 15th, we celebrated Kathy & Guys 40th Wedding Anniversary together in the ICU Unit. It was a day of laughter, tears, gratefulness and pure love. We knew we were blessed to get through the past week together as a family.
Our celebration was short lived, hours later Guy went into cardiac arrest for a second time. After a day and a half of getting him stable enough, we transferred him to Columbia Presbyterian Hospitals CCU Unit.
Every day Guy woke up, he decided it was another day to continue to fight and turn his life around. The universe tried to take him from us twice and this was a blessing from God that it was not time for him to leave us.
Unfortunately, he is very sick. After many tests and conversations with the doctors, they have determined he will need a heart and kidney transplant. Even with all of this difficult news, Guy is optimistic and hopeful to make a difference in this world. As a family, we are also determine to help him make that difference.
Currently in Columbias CICU unit, he is on dialysis and a lot of medication to help his heart pump. On June 1st, he had surgery to have an LVAD pump put in as a ‘bridge to transplant’. This will help keep his heart keep going until a donor becomes available. (https://www.mylvad.com/content/what-lvad-how-does-it-work)
If you know Guy, you know that he truly has the biggest heart in the world. He takes care of everyone else before he even considers taking care of himself. One of his favorite things to do is give out nicknames - he has given every nurse and doctor one already! As the nurses wheeled him into surgery on June 1st, they gave him a standing ovation.
This gofundme is to help us cover the costs of the LVAD pump surgery, heart/kidney transplant surgery, and a lifetime of medication.
Lets help give the man with the biggest heart get a new healthy one.
Thank you all so much!
Love,
The Riccardi Family
Please repost and share with the hashtag #WeHeartOurGuy
Organizer and beneficiary
Kathy Riccardi
Beneficiary