Help Mike get his new heart & a home ❤️ #Fight4Mike

Mike Seymour has always been an active, healthy, outgoing man that people can't help but be drawn to. As a lifetime athlete and coach for youth athletes he was always on the go and in impeccable shape. He is so loved by his family, and friends.

Mike was diagnosed with heart failure, and had rapidly declined (starting September 2023) and has had multiple hospitalizations. He currently in process of being placed on the heart transplant list and we are praying he will get a new heart soon. He has exhausted all at home medical care and next steps will be hospitalization and possible heart pump until transplant time.

In Mike's words,

"So as I sit here waiting to be put on the heart transplant list, I can't help but wonder since my heart was in great shape in 2019, what happened.

In August of 2019, I had a fight in Augusta, Georgia and part of the licensing process is getting a cardiac exam. The cardiologist I saw passed me and said I was in excellent cardiac health, heart of a 19 year old.

Due to working in a hospital, in Oct 2021, I had my first covid vaccine. I was sick within 20 minutes. I had heard others say it made them sick too, so I didn't think much of it. The 2nd shot made me sick as well.

From Nov of 2021 til February of 2022 I had several fights fall through for various reasons, but mostly because my opponents were getting covid. I noticed in February of 2022 when I was training for my first BKFC fight, during training I was getting extremely exhausted and out of breath, FAST. I mentioned it to one of the ER docs during work one day and he said I should get tested for mono since I had been going up and down for weight cuts for the last few months, due to training for all the canceled fights. I took his advice and he was right, I tested positive for mono and he said I was on the tail end of it but recommended I not fight for at least a month to let my body and spleen recover. He also noticed some irregularities in my heartbeat that he said might be nothing, but recommended I have an appointment with cardiology to make sure.

When I saw my cardiologist, who happens to be one of the best in the world, she diagnosed me with dilated cardiomyopathy, heart failure. My heart is swollen, weak, and does not pump out enough oxygenated blood to my body. Meds are just a band-aid/quick fix. Ya boy needs a new ticker.

Take care of yourselves and each other. It's a jungle out there. Eat clean, train dirty and pray hard. All your thoughts, prayers, and well wishes are appreciated."

Last fall Mike's heart failure was managed with medication. Unfortunately he then contracted RSV in October, then Covid before Christmas. It started a massive downward spiral in his health therefore he has been only able to work a handful of hours since then and continues to train the kids he can. His determination in trying to keep going is so admirable. His Dr has said if he was anyone else, he is sick enough he wouldn't be able to get out of bed. He might go right back to bed, but he continues to be there for us all as much as he can.

He now has end stage heart failure, kidney disease due to the heart meds, and his body is only receiving about 50% of the oxygenated blood it needs. Therefore his organs aren't functioning the way they should and he gets very tired very quickly. He is not able to eat much as well as his body not able to absorb nutrients and has lost over 30 lbs of mostly muscle in just the last 5 months. He is on a 50 ounce fluid restriction daily so he doesnt retain fluid and get hospitalized.

January 26, 2024, the day before his 46th birthday, he had a heart catheter done. We found out his heart had weakened. Over that weekend we celebrated his birthday, spent some time with friends, had our engagement pictures, and by Monday evening he was not feeling well and his legs were swollen. On Tuesday January 30th we saw his cardiologist and Mike was admitted to the ICU. They started IV medication to reduce the water retention. As the water came off (20lbs of it) he experienced massive body cramping which is extremely painful. On Thursday February 1, he was taken again for a heart catheter but this time they left it in. Its called a Swan when they do that and it comes out of his jugular and you can't move much. He was monitored this way until Monday, Feb 5th they removed it so he would be able to have a central line put in on Tuesday to go home with around the clock IV meds and to be able to do blood draws direct from his heart to do certain labs. His heart has now weakened to the point where he is on 24/7 iv medication with a central line and a life vest. (Which our insurance won't cover at all) a life vest is an external defibrillator to shock him if his heart stops and his iv meds increase the risk of his heart stopping. He has a Zoll LifeVest, defibrillator that costs around $3,000 a month. He can't get a surgical defibrillator due to going on the transplant list but insurance doesn't cover it unless he's already on the list so we were denied. So we are stuck in the middle. He has home health nurses that work with the infusion pharmacy to come weekly to change his dressing, take labs, and teach us how to change out the IV bag. It has been a whole new lifestyle. We are praying he will be able to stay home for awhile yet but as of now his labs are not stabilizing post hospital. We were told last visit (Feb 29) that his only next option is a heart catheter, hospitalization until transplant happens and possible LVAD (artificial heart pump) to be able to keep him alive and stable to receive a transplant. The Dr's want to prevent any further damage to other organs in his body from lack of oxygenated blood.

We are so thankful for our medical team at Bergan, our soon to be team at UNMC, our home health nurses and infusion pharmacy. We have been blessed with amazing medical professionals.

As I am writing this we are just 6 days out from our wedding and praying for continued good news until that day. We have fought this together so far and we want to keep fighting as man and wife.