Donate to Andrew's Knee Surgery and Recovery Fund

Hello everyone.... my name is Andrew!

If you know my story, then you'll know most of what I'm about to share. If you're close friends with me, then you know more than most. I tend to keep my private life fairly private, due to safety concerns.

Growing up, I had bowed legs. They never gave me any issues growing up, but as time went on.... they've gotten pretty bad. In 2013, I started having a lot of pain in my knees. I went to an orthopedic surgeon and he said that I had 65-75% cartilage loss in both knees. Literally almost bone to bone grinding. The worst part is the fact that the nerves were getting pinched as well. Which would almost put me to the ground each time I hit a specific angle while I was walking in the kitchen. My doctor's advice, "get a different job." At the time, I was working at Gordon Ramsay Steak at the Paris Hotel & Casino.

Eventually I went to the ortho and decided it was time to fix them. He was recommending total knee replacements on both, but he also offered another option. I had an Osteotomy done on my left knee to "fix" it. The best way to explain what that procedure is, it's the surgeon doing a surgical break on your bones. I was supposed to have my right knee done as soon as I was healed enough to be able to walk on my left leg without too much pain.

My surgeon ended up moving to Oregon to start his own practice and I was scared to do my right knee because of the issues that I had on my left knee during my recovery.

I did end up changing jobs, though. I ended up taking the Executive Chef position at Zappos in Las Vegas.

When CV-19 hit, I lost my job due to the Zappos campus closing down. That's when my Private Chef life began.

I was hired by Dan Bilzerian and worked for him for several years. If you know who Dan is, you know the lifestyle can be pretty insane. The hours were absolutely insane. But, I loved it. My knees? Not so much. I had some MRIs done and the results were the worst case scenario. I had ACL, MCL, PCL tears and meniscus tears. I was told that I should get into the doc's office ASAP and get it taken care of. As soon as I set my appointment, I was let go from work. Needless to say, I did not go through with the surgery. I didn't have the financial means to do it.

I worked with a few other families as their Private Chef since then, but my knee isn't going to get any better without doing the surgery.

My most recent MRI in February gave me hope. With putting a lot less stress on my knees, I have a lot less to deal with. Pretty much all of the tears have naturally healed, which I'm STOKED AF for. But, it left quite a bit of scar tissue and this wonderful Baker's Cyst.

Having this Baker's Cyst in my knee makes it to where I can't bend my knee fully. It stops my knee at a 90° angle. UPDATE: It's actually pieces of bones that have generated that stop my knee from fully bending and extending, that was the worst case scenario. That makes life pretty damn hard.

(See the pictures in one of the updates)

I still work out, I still hike and adventure at the lake. But, if I make one wrong step and get my right foot caught, my ass is going down.

To sum this all up.....

I have decided that I need to get Total Knee Replacement surgery. I'm getting both knees done at the same time. The only way that I can do this, is by having the necessary funds to do it. My insurance will cover the cost of the surgery, but I will have rent and other bills to pay during the recovery.

It's extremely hard for me to ask for help, it's always been. But being a single parent, I can't let my kid down by putting ourselves further into debt by doing this.

So, I'm trying to raise enough funds to help carry us over during recovery. Even though I knew that I was going to be having the surgery done, I've still been applying for jobs and doing side jobs to make ends meet. And me being me, I know that I'll probably rush the recovery and push myself too far just like I did last time. But if I have the financial means, I'll be more likely to recovery properly.

If you can donate, thank you.

If you can't donate, please share this.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart and soul.