All Eric Wants For Christmas is Hernia Surgery

Eric Reynolds has been a live sound engineer in Asheville, NC for fifteen years. He's currently the head sound engineer at the Salvage Station. Prior to that, he ran the sound board at such legacy Asheville venues as the Emerald Lounge, Stella Blue, New Mountain, and Ellington Underground. He's also been responsible for helping artists sound their best at local music festivals such as LEAF and Soulshine. So if you live in Asheville and like to go to shows, chances are you've enjoyed at least a few of Eric's eargasmic mixes.

At home, Eric is a devoted husband and father and a talented musician and songwriter. He loves life, and the only thing holding him back from full enjoyment of it is constant pain from his multiple hernias.

Eric's hernia troubles began in 2006 when he injured himself at a landscaping job. Worker's comp paid for a hernia repair surgery at the time, but within two years he experienced a recurrence of the umbilical hernia, and it has caused him pain and trouble ever since. About five years ago, he began experiencing a new pain in his groin area, and was diagnosed with another hernia. Without insurance to cover the surgery, he let it ride, and now that one inguinal hernia has turned into two—requiring a bilateral hernia surgery.

Since then, Eric has gotten an ACA medical insurance plan, but with the amount of surgery he needs, and the high rate of his deductibles, it made more sense to find a less expensive, no-insurance option and pay cash, at least for the first round of surgery. His wife, Starr (that’s me!) researched and found a great solution that avoids using the mesh that caused Eric problems after his first surgery.

So that's two procedures total that Eric will need. The first--and most crucial--is the bilateral repair for the inguinal hernias. After that is done, we will have met our deductible and hopefully the second surgery for the umbilical hernia can be covered by insurance.

We’ve been putting money aside to save for the cost of the procedure for some time, but finally in November 2020, the pain was becoming too much to bear. Eric decided he needed to do something about this problem NOW. So he sold his sound system to come up with enough money to afford the bilateral inguinal hernia surgery through a no-insurance clinic that specializes in hernia repairs. Unfortunately, due to an unexpected medical complication, it wasn’t quite enough.

Eric’s surgery is scheduled for January 18, 2021. He needs to come up with an extra $5000 by then, or he will have to cancel it.

We are turning to the local community to ask for support. Eric has given much of his life, talent, and energy to helping Asheville musicians sound amazing and providing musical feasts for the ears of Asheville audiences. It’s not an easy job, and over the past few years it’s grown increasingly difficult as Eric’s physical condition has deteriorated due to these hernias.

So if you’ve ever appreciated Eric’s mixes as an audience member, or if you’re a musician who has ever had the pleasure of working with him on a professional basis, or a friend who has jammed with him after the show, please consider donating to this GoFundMe. Any amount is greatly appreciated and will help ensure that Eric can go on making and facilitating great music in the community for many years to come.

All funds raised will go directly toward medical expenses and a small amount of travel expenses, as the surgery will be performed out of state. If any extra funds are raised, they will go toward the cost of the second surgery.

Thank you, Asheville!