Beat for Brad Keefer

Brad was born with an abnormal aortic valve in his heart.  His heart was functioning properly until December of 2008 when the doctors found he had an infection and an aortic aneurysm in his valve.  As a result, he had open heart surgery to have his valve replaced and the aneurysm repaired. 

Brad felt pretty good for several years, but his heart began showing signs of strain.   His body continually retained fluid causing him to be in constant heart failure. As a result, he had surgery for an Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator (pacemaker/defibrillator).  Over the last few years Brad has been hospitalized more than a half a dozen times with chronic heart failure.  In August of 2017 Brad underwent testing to become a heart transplant recipient. On August 24th, his cardiologist informed us that he had been approved to be placed on the transplant list. It was news we were all grateful to hear! What we were not prepared to hear was that Brad needed to be admitted into the hospital immediately and would not be released until after his transplant, which could take months.  The test results showed that both sides of his heart are under major distress and that his organs are showing signs of weakening. 

Brad was admitted into the hospital on September 7th and will remain there until he receives a new heart. He must be on a certain type of medicine administered through an IV pic line round-the-clock.   The medicine relaxes the muscles in his blood vessels which allows blood to flow more easily through the veins and arteries. 

During the testing sessions, we met with the hospital’s financial advisor who explained, that at the time of transplant, we will need at least $30K in savings.  This money is to help with medical and non-medical expenses after transplant.

Due to Brad’s early hospitalization, he is no longer able to financially support his family as he always has.  As a result, we are unable to pay our bills even with the adjustments we have already made and cannot fathom how we will save the necessary funds for his heart transplant.  We ask that you take our family into consideration for assistance and know that we are so grateful for any support we may receive.