Airman Russell and Family

If there is ever a family more deserving of the support and help of their friends and community,  it is the Russell's.  Having just relocated their lives to Japan this past year for Tony's military assignment (he is an airman in the U.S. Air Force), they were hit with devastating news.  Tony was diagnosed with a life threatening congenital heart defect.  Surgery to correct the defect occurred last week, unfortunately with complications. 

Tony, Denise and their 3 year old son Kobe were relocated to Hawaii where a team of doctors performed his surgery.   They have no support system on the island, as they are only there for Tony's surgery.  In addition to this, Denise is 28 weeks pregnant and has had some complications along the way.  She is out of work to be by her husband's side.  

Through all of these challenges, the Russell's have held their faith in God, and have not once asked for help.  They have only asked for the prayers of their friends and family.  Tony, as of today, is still on life support this Christmas Eve.  The Russell's have no idea what each day holds for them; the burden of money and how to afford living and taking care of their children should be the last thing they should worry about right now.  

I grew up in the same town as Denise.  South Dakota is known for its caring people, and I know many of us have heard her family's story this past week on social media.  When I asked her if she had a fund established to help aid their family, her reply was that everyone has their battles and her family is currently fighting theirs.  She is undoubtedly stressed about the monetary burden her family will face, but her priority right now is caring for her husband, her son and their unborn child.  I have attached Denise's latest post giving more detail into Tony's story.  I ask that everyone continue to pray for this beautiful family as they are not out of the woods yet.  I can tell you that any donation will be much appreciated by this family who has selflessly given to their community and country.   If you are unable to donate, please share their story and continue to send your prayers their way. God bless and thank you. 

Donations can be made to the Russell's via GoFundMe, Facebook Pay, or Paypal.  Facebook pay is via FB messenger and is easy to set up with a bank account number or is directly connected to PayPal if you already have that.  Paypal can be sent via her email: 

[email redacted]

Denise's latest post on Tony's condition (December 23rd, 2018) 

"Tony's story is incredible and a miracle in itself to this point. Tony was born with a extremely rare heart defect, Coronary Artery Anomaly. To make it even more rare, (.0000002%) his right and left coronary come out of the same spot, within 1/8 mm of each other.

He has suffered chest pain, shortness of breath, high BP (180/130) and has been misdiagnosed repeatedly for the past 5 years. Doctors have told him; you have asthma. You have poor diet, you need to “push through it,” it’s anxiety, depression, allergies and my favorite... “there’s nothing wrong with you. Get out of my office.” A MD whose ego was hurt told Tony that. He was getting discouraged and that’s when we Told Tricare we needed a different doctor. We found Dr Richard Greco in Yokota AFB. He said “idk what’s wrong with you but I won’t stop until we have an answer!” He believed Tony and his symptoms, ***Advocate for yourself!!***

We found the problem, we were sent to Tripler. Dr. Neil Stockmaster took a month to plan out how he’d fix Tonys heart. He was very optimistic. We proceeded....

❣️ Tonys surgery went super well, a little hiccup when he needed a vein from his leg after they found his coronary artery was 1/8 the time it should be!!!!!! A normal artery is 4mm. (Size of a straw) Tonys wasn’t even 1mm!! This is the artery that supplies 80% or your blood to your body! How he’s been in such good health, able to move or even breathe is something nobody can explain. He should have died a long time ago according to physics. God doesn’t care about numbers or physics, if this isn’t evident now idk how else to explain Gods power. 

  Immediately after his surgery he went into V FIB. His heart stopped and they performed CPR for 5 min! They weren’t able to get him into normal sinus rhythm and he was placed on 15 medicines and They inserted a balloon pump, another central line in his Jugular vein to help his heart pump again and placed him on life support. He hasn’t woken up yet and is still on life support.

Since then he’s had 1 completely collapsed lung. 1 partially collapsed lung. An infection. A procedure that could have killed him that I had to decide on. A fever of 104.6 that wouldn’t go away. Several blood transfusions, Hypoxia leading to Acute renal failure, liver failure, paralysis. Tanking o2 stats... and yet everyday he continues to get better and pull through. He’s truly amazing and a miracle to this point. My husband has THE HEART OF A LION! 

Right now Tony, my dear husband, Jesus follower, amazing father, active duty Airman, brother, son continues to fight for his life. It’s two days to Christmas. TODAY is Our anniversary of when we first started officially dating. ♥️

A Christmas miracle would be just the next thing! Everyone is getting ready for Christmas and I’m preparing as well. This isn’t just our story now, everyone who has been a part of it is now part of our story. From his doctors to every single amazing person who has prayed for him. We continue to thank you."