Dan Medernach's Heart Fund

Dan Medernach, 59, is a loving husband to Adele, father of Joel (Jessica) and Lyle and grandfather to Jenaveive and Juliette.  Dan is a doting grandfather, constantly joking, spoiling and crawling around on the floor with his grandbabies. Dan is hardworking fun loving, kind and loyal man to all who know him; Dan’s thoughts and concerns for others are always before himself.   He started the electrical trade at the age of 43 when Northern Telecomm closed after a 18 year career.  Dan is a wonderful provider, but has struggled in the past few years with a small electrical business due to the economy. 

On Tuesday Jan 14th Dan started having flu like symptoms.  He was feeling worse, so he went to doctor Friday, but they did not run any tests and sent him home as it is flu season.  He was getting any better, so Adele took him to their family doctor Monday and had tests ran.  The blood tests found his heart, kidneys and liver were all in failure.  The doctor was surprised he could stand let alone walk in, and sent him to the hospital.  He went to Royal University Hospital Cardio unit and had a pacemaker and balloon pump put in.  On Tuesday, he was awake and being his usual self, talking and joking and worried about everyone else.

Wednesday morning he went into cardiac arrest and was shocked three times.  He was up and talking about Adele and was aware of where he was.  They put him into a medical induced coma.  Later than morning, he went into Vfib (erratic heart rate) three times over the morning and they contacted the Edmonton Hospital and determined they were transferring him that day.  Upon arriving in Edmonton, the doctors diagnosed that he needed open heart surgery and added an external mechanical heart. This is to allow his organs and his heart to have time to heal and fight off the illness. 

The doctors currently do not know what is causing his heart, liver and kidney failure, and are doing tests to determine the cause.

All families that deal with significant illnesses struggle financially due to the cost of travel, accommodation and time off work.  Due to this, we would like to assist Adele and Dan in keeping up with their bill payments while in the hospital unable to work.  Dan is a strong fit man who is fighting the battle of his life, and we know he is giving it his all.  With so much great friends and family in his community, I know we can support the Medernach’s.