Donate to Bill's Urgent Medical Care and Recovery

For those that know my brother Bill, I want you to know he is not doing well. He started getting sick about 5 or 6 weeks ago with shortness of breath. He waited 3 weeks before going to the hospital. They found a blood clot in his lung, 2 cancer spots in his lung, and he has 8 blockages in his heart. Currently, his heart is functioning at 15% to 20%.

They transported him to Bangor, Maine, where he had additional tests for 4 days. On Wednesday, 2/28, they told him he needed to go to a top hospital in Portland, Maine. Bill agreed, and they said, "Good, because you're leaving in 45 minutes." They Life Flighted him from the hospital in Bangor to Portland.

The doctors told him on Friday, 2/28, he is scheduled to have a Quadruple Bypass on Tuesday, 3/4. Bill will be out of work for several months and they still have bills coming in.

Update: Bill is out of surgery and in ICU. His heart was working at 10%. They have 2 machines working to keep his heart pumping blood through his body. At this point, the doctors think he will be in ICU for several days and they can't move him until both machines are removed. The doctors are giving him a 50/50 shot of survival.

Keep him in your prayers!

Update: He woke up and tried to pull the tube out if his throat that was a panic for the care team...they had him restrained and he broke free of them. I told them they might want to get something a little stronger, took 6 of them to hold him down till they could get more sedative into him and get him back to sleep so they could get his breathing tube reinserted.

His whole body is strong, it's the heart that is holding him back. If them implant the LVAD device permanently then we are going to have to get rid of the animals and sterilize the house because he will have a hole in his side for the port that the battery wires connect to. Any bacteria or dirt or hair gets in there and he could get an infection...he will need to be plugged into a wall outlet at night, and run on batteries during the day.

He did not respond well to being taken off the ECMO for the test they did. The nurse just said he will more than likely be on it until Friday, but they are hopeful to get the tube out if his throat tomorrow....that would be a plus for sure