Chippin' in for Dale
Donation protected
Hey everyone!
I'm sure by now most of you already know what's going on with my dad, Dale Bucher, but for those of you who don't I want to fill you in.
On Thanksgiving of 2002, my dad suffered a widow maker heart attack. He had worked that morning (delivering hogs) so when my mom noticed he wasn’t using his left arm, they both assumed he had hurt himself at work. As the day progressed, he realized he was feeling a bit off, but again,seeing as it was Thanksgiving, he just brushed off the symptoms as signs of indigestion. After all, he was a seemingly healthy 39 year old, why would he think any differently? It wasn't until later that evening when my mom forced him to go to the hospital, that he realized how much pain he was truly in. She rushed him to the ER and he collapsed in the triage room. We were fortunate enough that by the grace of God, he survived; however, it was from this point forward that his ability to work, and provide for his family, became a point of contention. He continued to work, but being that he was a hog farmer (an incredibly labor intensive job) he knew that eventually something was going to have to give.
From 2002 until 2014, my dad had frequently been in and out of the hospital with various heart-related ailments. From stints to a pacemaker to a defibrillator and eventually to end stage congestive heart failure in July of 2014. It was at this point that he was transferred via ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital as our local hospital could no longer assist him. Upon arrival the doctors decided the best option would be to get him stable using IV medication and then attempt an ablation to correct his cardiac arrhythmia. Unfortunately because dad was retaining so much fluid that he could not lay flat without feeling like he was drowning, the ablation didn't work. At this point he was intubated and put on sedatives, and our family had a sit down meeting with a social worker in which she informed us of our options with his care moving forward.
The social worker said we could either look into palliative care or there was an option called an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device ) that he may be eligible for. As soon as dad was extubated and could communicate, we sat down and talked it out, and he decided he wanted to go for the LVAD. Now, with the LVAD are two classifications: "destination therapy" and "bridge to transplant". At the time of dad's LVAD surgery he was classified as "destination therapy" due to a potential kidney tumor that had been removed by an ablation in 2013. The waiting period to be eligible for a heart transplant for him would be 5 years from the date of the ablation on the kidney so until that time he could NOT be on the heart transplant list. The LVAD surgery was successful, again by God's grace, and he came home roughly 2.5 weeks later.
(Dad & Maddox before his LVAD surgery)
(After the LVAD surgery)
Although my dad has always had health insurance, this surgery, as you can imagine was incredibly expensive. When the hospital bill came it was over $1,000,000 when you factor in the surgery, the hospital stay, the medications, the therapists, and the rehabilitation. This does not include the "dressing kits" (the dressing is what covered the drive line leading from his internal heart pump to his external controller and the only way to keep this from getting infected is to keep it covered and clean at all times using the provided kits) which he needed to have changed every three days. These kits cost $10,000 per month! On top of the extreme costs, my mom also had to be off work for over a year in order to care for him and travel with him to appointments. Through all of this my dad, being the prideful man he is, refused to ask for financial help.
Fast forward now to May 2018, my dad received the call that he has passed his initial testing and is now going to be placed on the heart transplant list at a 1A for 30 days. This meant that he had a 30 day window when he is the top recipient if a heart were to come available that matched his requirements. Now I can't speak for him, but I definitely did not think a heart would come available on his first swing; regardless, we prayed. The night of May 27th he got the call that a heart was available!!!
My dad, mom, Wes, and myself loaded up and headed to Northwestern that night. My dad lugged in his wall unit and extra batteries (we offered to carry them but looking back I'm sure this was symbolic), and dropped them off at the nurses station for the last time at 3 am on May 28th. His surgery was that evening at 6. The first incision was made at 7:21 pm, his new heart was "stitched" in at 11 pm, and he was out of surgery and back into his room recovering at 4:30 am. My dad has made strides in his recovery thus far, coming home only 9 days after surgery. He has had 2 biopsies, which are used to check for signs of rejection, and both have come back with ZERO rejection!!
(Dad changing from his wall unit to batteries for the last time)
(Up and walking post-transplant)
He knows that with this new heart, will come limitations and challenges of its own, but he is SO grateful for this gift that honestly, I don't think he even cares. I know this is a situation that 20 years ago he would've never seen himself in, and being that he has been fighting this battle for over 16 years I know he's grown accustomed to large level of financial burden brought about by excessive medical bills. I mean, this is a man who has hit his max out of pocket several times! We have been told that this surgery will cost more than the LVAD, and again, my mom has had to be off work until he is cleared to be on his own. As his child, it is so difficult to watch him fight for his life and then have him fight to pay the bill as well.
He has been incredibly fortunate, blessed even, in that he received this gift of a new life, and I'm so proud of him for allowing us to be his advocate and ask you all for help. If you feel that you want to donate to my dad's medical bills, please know just how much it means to him. Please know that he accepts your gift, as he accepted this ultimate gift of life, with a grateful and humble heart. If all you can give are prayers, then please know those mean just as much, as we wouldn't be here without them.
Thank you for clicking, thank you for reading, and thank you for supporting!
You all are SO loved by us! God bless you, and God bless his second heart of gold!
-Carly
(Coming home!!)
**I also want to add that because the donations will go directly to my dad they are not tax deductible, thank you for all your love and support!
I'm sure by now most of you already know what's going on with my dad, Dale Bucher, but for those of you who don't I want to fill you in.
On Thanksgiving of 2002, my dad suffered a widow maker heart attack. He had worked that morning (delivering hogs) so when my mom noticed he wasn’t using his left arm, they both assumed he had hurt himself at work. As the day progressed, he realized he was feeling a bit off, but again,seeing as it was Thanksgiving, he just brushed off the symptoms as signs of indigestion. After all, he was a seemingly healthy 39 year old, why would he think any differently? It wasn't until later that evening when my mom forced him to go to the hospital, that he realized how much pain he was truly in. She rushed him to the ER and he collapsed in the triage room. We were fortunate enough that by the grace of God, he survived; however, it was from this point forward that his ability to work, and provide for his family, became a point of contention. He continued to work, but being that he was a hog farmer (an incredibly labor intensive job) he knew that eventually something was going to have to give.
From 2002 until 2014, my dad had frequently been in and out of the hospital with various heart-related ailments. From stints to a pacemaker to a defibrillator and eventually to end stage congestive heart failure in July of 2014. It was at this point that he was transferred via ambulance to Northwestern Memorial Hospital as our local hospital could no longer assist him. Upon arrival the doctors decided the best option would be to get him stable using IV medication and then attempt an ablation to correct his cardiac arrhythmia. Unfortunately because dad was retaining so much fluid that he could not lay flat without feeling like he was drowning, the ablation didn't work. At this point he was intubated and put on sedatives, and our family had a sit down meeting with a social worker in which she informed us of our options with his care moving forward.
The social worker said we could either look into palliative care or there was an option called an LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device ) that he may be eligible for. As soon as dad was extubated and could communicate, we sat down and talked it out, and he decided he wanted to go for the LVAD. Now, with the LVAD are two classifications: "destination therapy" and "bridge to transplant". At the time of dad's LVAD surgery he was classified as "destination therapy" due to a potential kidney tumor that had been removed by an ablation in 2013. The waiting period to be eligible for a heart transplant for him would be 5 years from the date of the ablation on the kidney so until that time he could NOT be on the heart transplant list. The LVAD surgery was successful, again by God's grace, and he came home roughly 2.5 weeks later.
(Dad & Maddox before his LVAD surgery)(After the LVAD surgery)Although my dad has always had health insurance, this surgery, as you can imagine was incredibly expensive. When the hospital bill came it was over $1,000,000 when you factor in the surgery, the hospital stay, the medications, the therapists, and the rehabilitation. This does not include the "dressing kits" (the dressing is what covered the drive line leading from his internal heart pump to his external controller and the only way to keep this from getting infected is to keep it covered and clean at all times using the provided kits) which he needed to have changed every three days. These kits cost $10,000 per month! On top of the extreme costs, my mom also had to be off work for over a year in order to care for him and travel with him to appointments. Through all of this my dad, being the prideful man he is, refused to ask for financial help.
Fast forward now to May 2018, my dad received the call that he has passed his initial testing and is now going to be placed on the heart transplant list at a 1A for 30 days. This meant that he had a 30 day window when he is the top recipient if a heart were to come available that matched his requirements. Now I can't speak for him, but I definitely did not think a heart would come available on his first swing; regardless, we prayed. The night of May 27th he got the call that a heart was available!!!
My dad, mom, Wes, and myself loaded up and headed to Northwestern that night. My dad lugged in his wall unit and extra batteries (we offered to carry them but looking back I'm sure this was symbolic), and dropped them off at the nurses station for the last time at 3 am on May 28th. His surgery was that evening at 6. The first incision was made at 7:21 pm, his new heart was "stitched" in at 11 pm, and he was out of surgery and back into his room recovering at 4:30 am. My dad has made strides in his recovery thus far, coming home only 9 days after surgery. He has had 2 biopsies, which are used to check for signs of rejection, and both have come back with ZERO rejection!!
(Dad changing from his wall unit to batteries for the last time)(Up and walking post-transplant)He knows that with this new heart, will come limitations and challenges of its own, but he is SO grateful for this gift that honestly, I don't think he even cares. I know this is a situation that 20 years ago he would've never seen himself in, and being that he has been fighting this battle for over 16 years I know he's grown accustomed to large level of financial burden brought about by excessive medical bills. I mean, this is a man who has hit his max out of pocket several times! We have been told that this surgery will cost more than the LVAD, and again, my mom has had to be off work until he is cleared to be on his own. As his child, it is so difficult to watch him fight for his life and then have him fight to pay the bill as well.
He has been incredibly fortunate, blessed even, in that he received this gift of a new life, and I'm so proud of him for allowing us to be his advocate and ask you all for help. If you feel that you want to donate to my dad's medical bills, please know just how much it means to him. Please know that he accepts your gift, as he accepted this ultimate gift of life, with a grateful and humble heart. If all you can give are prayers, then please know those mean just as much, as we wouldn't be here without them.
Thank you for clicking, thank you for reading, and thank you for supporting!
You all are SO loved by us! God bless you, and God bless his second heart of gold!
-Carly
(Coming home!!)**I also want to add that because the donations will go directly to my dad they are not tax deductible, thank you for all your love and support!
Organizer and beneficiary
Carly Sipkema
Organizer
DeMotte, IN
Dale Bucher
Beneficiary