Ben's Big Heart

Hi, my name is Emily Schalansky and I'm fundraising for Ben Wrench and his family. Ben is married to my baby sister, Melissa and is dad to my 3 gorgeous nieces and adorable nephew. He has been an important part of our family for almost 20 years and we can't imagine what our lives would be like without him.

For those who don't know, Ben was born with a heart defect that required open heart surgery in 2009 to replace an aortic valve with a mechanical valve. Watching him go through that surgery and recovery was rough, it was even harder watching my sister struggle with being strong not only for him but for their two very little girls at that time. They made it through all of that only to be tested once more when their oldest daughter also needed open heart surgery in 2016. Again I was in awe of both Melissa and Ben in how they handled themselves as parents during that scary time.

Several weeks ago Ben had his annual cardiology check-up and things didn't look they way they should. They were told that he now has an enlarged chamber in his heart, aortic narrowing and an aneurysm that requires another open heart surgery. Unfortunately this surgery can only be done at Saint Luke's Hospital in Kansas City, this of course is out of network for their insurance, it does not matter that there is no surgeon in Topeka that is qualified to do this specialized surgery. The out-of-pocket expense will be extensive, not including the money needed for gas and possibly lodging for my sister to get back and forth to be with him during recovery. He will be in the hospital a minimum of 10 days and will be off work approximately 6-8 weeks, and the timing couldn't be worse. He recently completed school and passed his boards to become a Nurse Practitioner after being a registered nurse for over a decade and was really looking forward to starting this next phase of his medical career and that is now all on hold.

Please consider donating, every dollar will help this amazing man and his family!