Hello everyone! My name is Nicole, and I am creating this GoFundMe to help my husband, Nick, and our family while he is in hospital.

Shortly after midnight, Sunday, August 17th, 2025, Nick started experiencing some severe pain in his abdomen. He went to the emergency room in Eau Claire where they did some CT scans and blood work. They identified that he has mesenteric artery dissection.

Nick was transported by ambulance to Marshfield, WI that Sunday morning, and I met him there. I have been driving back and forth daily between Eau Claire and Marshfield. I spend time with him and then head home to our daughters, Cecily (9) and Harriet (3) to give them some sense of normalcy during this time. My parents and daycare have been instrumental in taking care of them while I am absent.

As of Monday, there is no need for emergency surgery. Nick is stable and doing okay, although uncomfortable. Basically, the artery supplying blood to his bowels has compromised blood flow because there is a dissection there. The dissection is not in the artery itself-that would be an emergency situation. It's on a branch of the artery that is still important, though. The bowel is still alive and well right now, which is excellent! We are still not sure what caused this since Nick has no risk factors that would cause this to occur.

As a result, they are trying to keep Nick's vitals low with heparin, labetalol, and aspirin to prevent the dissection from getting worse. He is also on bowel rest, so he is not allowed to eat and can only consume minimal amounts of water and ice chips. If his condition or pain gets worse, that would require emergency surgery. Thankfully, they have a great vascular specialist in Marshfield.

The plan as of right now is to keep monitoring for 72 hours and rescan to see what is happening. Nick will be in Marshfield at least until Wednesday, if not longer if necessary. He is currently in the surgical ICU and is stable. He got another CT scan yesterday. We are still waiting for more details about that.

While Nick is in hospital, any donations will help Nicole continue to travel back and forth between Eau Claire and Marshfield, pay bills, food expenses, and replace some of Nick's lost income. We understand times are tough for many people, so if you cannot donate at this time, we ask that you please share our story with as many people as you can on all social media platforms. Any and all help and donations are deeply appreciated. Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers during this time. We will keep everyone updated as more information becomes available about Nick's progress.