Adam Kaplan's Road to Recovery

Adam Kaplan and Neill Shelton have been together for 20 years, and the entirety of their adult lives. They met as competitive figure skaters and performed all over the world with professional touring companies for the past two decades. In March, they left home in Rhode Island to spend four days performing in the Midwest, not knowing that Adam was already very, very sick.

While performing in Chicago, Adam suffered a series of debilitating (but ultimately recoverable) strokes, beginning on Tuesday March 14. He spent a total of 69 days in varying levels of ICU care, before moving to acute, in-patient rehab on May 22.

Adam was born with a bicuspid aortic valve, which left him particularly susceptible to an infection of the heart. We will never know definitively how it occured, but bacteria got into his bloodstream, causing sepsis, and infected the valve. The infection grew until the valve started to spray clots into his bloodstream, causing the strokes.

Adam had emergency, open-heart surgery on March 17 to remove and replace the infected valve and a portion of his aorta. They also "cleaned out" and patched an infected abscess in a wall of his heart. The surgery was a success; however, he spent the next eleven days on a ventilator, and sixteen days on kidney dialysis. Broad spectrum IV antibiotics battled the raging infection, which was affecting his kidneys, liver, spleen, lower back and knee, causing multi organ system failure.

As the infection subsided, Adam slowly began to regain consciousness. His eyes would follow us around the room, and he would nod his head "yes" and "no" in response to questions, even while still on the ventilator. He would also give Neill kisses. Once Adam was taken off the ventilator he began talking immediately, and, while it was very basic at first, it became obvious that he had retained his memory and sense of humor. Adam began to participate in Physical/Occupational/Speech Therapy while still in the ICU, in preparation for moving to acute, in-patient stroke rehabilitation.

The weeks leading up to Adam's birthday were filled with highs and lows. A high was taking Adam outside into the sunlight and fresh air, where Neill reunited him with their dog, Skeeter. A low was a routine echocardiogram showing that the original infection was more catastrophic than anyone realized. It had eaten a hole in the heart wall between a high pressure chamber and a low pressure chamber, precipitating congestive heart failure. Adam needed a second open-heart surgery.

It was a careful balancing act for a couple of weeks. The doctors needed to manage the heart failure and resulting congestion safely, while at the same time giving Adam as much time as possible to strengthen and recover from his initial heart surgery. That balancing act came to an end on May 1, when they drained 3.1 liters of fluid from his abdomen and scheduled him for surgery.

Adam's second open-heart surgery started on May 3, when his surgeons successfully patched the hole, or shunt, in his heart, fixing the congestive heart failure. Unfortunately, once he was open they saw that the new valve and aortic root had also become infected. They had to remove it all and replace it again. This second replacement was successful, but the procedure was long. Afterward, a permanent pacemaker was installed.

Adam's recovery since then has been much quicker than the first time around. He took his first steps with a walker on Monday May 15, and the following Monday he was cleared to move to the acute, in-patient rehabilitation floor of the hospital. His pace of recovery continues to accelerate there. An additional side effect from prolonged intubation was a paralyzed vocal chord, resulting in a raspy voice. An otolaryngologist has been added to his litany of specialists to try to improve the situation.

While we have not been very public about Adam's medical ordeal, we are very thankful for the love and support we have received throughout this time thus far, and we truly believe that Adam is still with us because of all the people who know, love, and care about him.

This GoFundMe is raising funds to assist with the financial burden associated with Adam's continued recovery. These costs range from travel and temporary living expenses in Chicago, hospital costs and continued rehabilitation therapies not covered by insurance (in one case being quoted at $7,000/day), specific cardiac medications that are not covered by insurance, potential medical costs due to his out-of-state insurance, and loss of income as Adam and Neill's world has at least temporarily been "stopped" by these unforeseen circumstances.

We are extremely thankful for the medical team of doctors, surgeons, nurses, and therapists who have been with Adam throughout his journey, as well as the Kaplan and Shelton families for their never-ending support and mulitple trips from home to the Chicago area. We have said from the beginning, "It takes a village" and I am so thankful for ours.

The caring and emotional support from so many people has been profound--and so greatly appreciated. That support makes all the difference in the world when it comes to recovering from such trauma. Adam is an athlete and a fighter, who is on a path to "get his life back". Your contributions will help make that happen.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts,

Lara Shelton

Neill's Sister