Shane and Veronica Els

Dear family and friends of Shane and Veronica -

As many of you may already know, Shane had a mild heart attack on Tuesday (November 26th).

Shane left last week to visit his parents in Johannesburg. On Tuesday morning Shane was up on the roof (of all places) fixing a leak. He woke up (on the roof) and realized he had passed out. He passed out a second time while making his way to the other side of the roof where the ladder was. He made it down the ladder but collapsed when he entered the kitchen. His Mom found him and managed to get him to the bedroom. He passed out a fourth time in the bathroom. When the ambulance didn’t show up his brother and a friend took him to a Mediclinic near his parent's home. Initially everyone thought it may have been dehydration as it was so hot, but after initial tests the Mediclinic diagnosed a mild heart attack.

Shane was then transferred under sedation to the Sunward Park Netcare Hospital and was admitted to High Care. After a consultation with a cardiologist, tests were scheduled for first thing the following morning. On Wednesday morning Shane had a angiogram which showed multiple clots in his lungs and a large clot in his leg. They immediately began treatment to dissolved the clots, which we found out this morning (Thursday) was successful. Still under investigation is why the blood is creating these clots. In the meantime, Shane has now been discharged to rest and recover at home but cannot fly back to Portugal until he gets the all clear from the cardiologist in January. His first follow up appointment will be the 7th January.

You can only imagine the stress and upheaval that has taken place for Shane and Veronica over the last few days. Our first concern is for Shane’s wellbeing and for Veronica and Dani to go and be with him while he recovers. Both of Shane’s parents are struggling health wise (the reason Shane was visiting them) and Veronica does not want to add any more stress onto their plate by having to take care of Shane.

Thank you so much to all the people that have reached out to ask how they can help. I think it’s obvious that the financial need is going to be great, so starting this Go Fund Me Page will give them easy access to funds as and when they need it. Short term, Veronica and Dani need air tickets to South Africa. Whether the travel insurance will cover the hospital stay still remains a huge concern for them. It is unknown at this point how long it will take Shane to make a full recovery, so their daily living expenses like rent, utilities and food will also be impacted as he has zero income since he is self employed.

Please don’t feel under any obligation to donate if you are not able to, your prayers and kind words are also worth so much to them.

Thank you in advance to those of you who are able to donate to these two kind and generous souls who have impacted our lives in many ways.