Big Ben’s Big Heart…Attack!

Hi there, I’m Christie Ahrens, Ben’s wife and I am here to raise money for my husband’s medical bills that were accrued during the Very Crazy Year of 2021.

Here’s a lil back story:

Ben & I moved from California to Texas in 2017, the year after we got married, where he began his career in law enforcement with the Travis County Sheriff’s Dept. in Austin. In 2020, Ben applied to the Round Rock Police Dept. to become a Police Officer and was invited to attend their Police Academy starting January 2021 with a graduation date of mid-July 2021.

Ben was all in… studying, exercising, making tons of note cards, typing out notes, running extra on the weekends, eating right, loosing weight…completely and fully invested in the process! Then came MAY 25, 2021! While sitting in class that morning (at the academy), Ben had a major HEART ATTACK (we later came to find out he had a widowmaker which is an informal term for a heart attack that involves 100 percent blockage in the left anterior descending (LAD) artery).

He was immediately rushed by ambulance to an amazing hospital where he received heart surgery to clear the blockage and have a stint implanted. The next three days at the hospital were long, scary, stressful and full of unanswered questions! He was put on a bunch of medications and we were told that they had found a blood clot in his heart that they were attempting to dissolve it with medication before it moved to his lungs causing a pulmonary embolism or moved to his brain causing a stroke. So many emotions!

He was discharged on May 28th, which happened to be his “34th Birthday”! Yes, he was 33 years of age at the time of this major heart attack!

He was sent home wearing a defibrillator vest that would beep, talk (warn) and actually shock his heart if it was to act up again! Wearing something like this for 3 months 24/7 (unless showering) is a complete mind game!!! So many sleepless nights!!!

The hardest and most heart breaking part of this was he could NOT finish the police academy with only 1.5 months left. After all his hard work and all the blood, sweat & tears, his dream seemed to be slipping through his fingers. We attended the 2021 academy graduation to support his classmates who passed but the day was so bittersweet. Soo many tears!!!

The next 4 months were filled with tons of Cardiologist appointments, weekly cardiac rehab/therapy, echocardiograms….

Even though a lot was happening, Ben started back at work in a different position toward the end of July and totally dominated that job at RRPD.

As soon as his Cardiologist gave him the go ahead in October, he began to work out harder! His goal was to get medically cleared by early December 2021 for the Round Rock Academy starting Jan. 2022!

He was cleared!!!! He was enrolled…again!!! He worked hard, studied, exercised, passed test after test, got pepper sprayed & was shot with a taser, learned penal code, passed gun qualifications and so much more!!!

Okay, now you are all caught up to what has just happened 2 weeks ago:

Ben passed the final physical fitness test, the written academy final and the Peace Officer of Texas state test!!!! He is a fighter!!! Soooo much Joy!!!

Please Celebrate with me in congratulating Ben in a job well done and Graduating the Round Rock Police Academy of 2022!! I’m so extremely proud of him! What an amazing story he has of overcoming some pretty incredible odds!!!!

The money you so kindly donate will be used to pay his outstanding medical bills for all the services ( ambulance ride, heart surgery, hospital stay, ER visit, zoll vest 24 hr. monitoring, echos, dr visits, cardiac rehab) he required during this time. It will also be used to pay off debts that were accrued over the past year due to this unforeseen medical emergency.

Please share this with your family members, friends, law enforcement family, co-workers, neighbors…. I’m hoping his story touches the HEARTS of so many!!!

So go after what you want, don’t let anything keep you from your dreams!

God Bless you all!

With Many Blessings,

Christie Ahrens