Update! - April 9

You incredible folks have already met and surpassed our goal! Thank you to each and every one of you who donated, shared, sent well wishes, and all the amazing support we all have felt in the past couple of days. I’ve updated the goal, with no expectations but if others feel they’d still like to contribute, I know that every dollar will help to ease the financial strain on Emma and Allan as they navigate their new reality. Thank you again to you all.

Hi everyone, my name is Sarah and I’m starting this GoFundMe for my sister Emma and her partner Allan. They got the scare of a lifetime three weeks ago.

Allan had stayed home from work because he was feeling unwell. Emma is a nurse and on maternity leave and when she came downstairs with their baby, Rosalee, he told her what was going on. That’s ok, it’s flu season. Except he starts having chest pain and shortness of breath. That sent off the alarm bells. They arranged childcare for Rosalee and their older son, Nicolas, and headed for the ER.

He ended up having another event and they were able to initiate an EKG during and saw he was having a heart attack, and in fact had had three in the last 24hrs. That earned him an admission to ICU for a week while he waited for a transfer to Halifax for a cardiac catherization where they would place a stent to keep that vessel open and avoid any further heart attacks.

He went to Halifax via ambulance and Emma followed in their car while friends watched the kids. His previous echo (an ultrasound of his heart) had shown he didn’t have any lasting muscle damage so they thought the heart attacks had been minor. They discovered after his cardiac cath and stent placement that he was what the three cardiac surgeons it took to place his stent a “medical miracle”. The third of his heart attacks had taken place in a vessel often called the Widow Maker and that Allan had had a 96% blockage of that vessel. They said the only reason he survived was because his heart had created it’s own bypass of sorts and saved his life, an extremely rare phenomenon.

All this being said, their family is in for a long road. Allan had started a new job six months ago and had only accumulated three sick days and will be off on disability for at least three months while he completes his cardiac rehab and gets his new medication regimen and lifestyle changes sorted out. He qualifies for short term disability, thankfully, but that will still take a couple of weeks to sort out and will only be a portion of his income. They are in for a series of big challenges and my hope is that this could help alleviate some of the financial burden.

Times are tough right now for so many people, so if you aren’t in a financial position to donate, please share this post instead! Thanks everyone in advance. Allan, Emma and all of their beautiful shared kids appreciate the love and support