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Donate to Secure Drew's Health and Home
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$1,875 raised of
22 donations
My name is Shannon and this is my Uncle Andrew, though everyone calls him “Drew.” I am making this GoFundMe to help him while he recovers from a series of severe medical setbacks and complications.
Drew is the 6th of 9 children (my dad’s younger brother) and the most loving and generous soul I know.
- We lost my dad very suddenly in 1980. He was a NYC firefighter who was killed in the line of duty. My mother was left widowed at 35 with 8 children. We were 12 years old to 6 months old. My uncle immediately stepped up and stepped in. He was just 31 at the time, but he moved in and helped take care of and raise all of us children. He was definitely the fun Uncle! He took us to movies and plays, we went on road trips, and there was ice cream, games, and all sorts of adventures. He was a steady source of love and support during a tragic time not only for us but for him as well yet he never hesitated; his heart was broken too, but he always had love to give.
- Drew did not have it easy as a gay man in an ultra Irish Catholic family. Some people struggled to understand. Yet he never held that challenge to accept against anyone. True to himself, he continued to live his life as he always had, with compassion, love, laughter, and acceptance.
In 2019, he suffered a massive coronary. He actually died in the ambulance and was successfully resuscitated. He underwent a quadruple bypass and had a defibrillator/pacemaker inserted. But the damage from the heart attack left him with 30% of his heart muscle dead and an additional diagnosis of Congestive Heart Failure. He has been in and out of the hospital with complications, exacerbations, and setbacks multiple times in the last year alone. This last hospitalization, it was discovered that he had a massive bacterial infection in his defibrillator site and it had to be removed. They were unable to replace it, and he is not currently a candidate for the Life Vest secondary to the infection. He is now home and has to receive IV antibiotics at least until mid-December, and that means visiting nurses, medication co-pays, and he is not able to work as a result.
His social security and small pension are not sufficient to cover his rent, utilities, food, co-pays, etc. He needs help!
I know the power of social media and I believe that all of the love, time, effort, and energy that he has poured into everyone around him his whole life is due to come back to him now when he needs it the most!
I want him to be able to focus on making a full recovery without the added stress of losing his place to live or paying his bills. Being sick in America should not lead to the threat of homelessness.
His 77th birthday is right around the corner! Please help me help him! Let’s give him the best present he could get right now, freedom from financial worries. I have never known a more deserving soul!
Organizer and beneficiary
Drew Fitzpatrick
Beneficiary