Dustin's open heart surgery

Hi, my name is John Schroeder and I'm raising money to help my oldest son Dustin Schroeder (the young man pictured in the black shirt with his younger brother Robert) after an unfortunate and unforseen medical issue.

What happenned?

On February 5th, 2023 Dustin, who is just turned 35 on January 29th, was bowling with friends and family when he suddenly became short of breath and felt as if he had a heavy weight on his chest. Dustin went to the ER and underwent several tests. The following day he had an echocardiogram and was told that his heart is failing.

The diagnosis:

After two echocardiograms and an angiogram, doctors determined that Dustin has 2 leaking heart valves and one that has calcified and is no longer functioning. Because of this Dustin's heart is only pumping at 20% to 25% of its capacity. Normal is considered to be between 50 - 75%, below 30% is considered quite severe. If this falls below 20% it will likely lead to a full cardiac arrest and death.

Treatment and Procedures:

Dustin will have to undergo open heart surgery in March to replace the calcified heart valve with a mechanical valve, and to repair the two leaking valves. Dustin will then be required to take Coumadin for the rest of his life to prevent blood clots from forming on the mechanical valve. He will be off of work to recover from his surgery for at least 8 weeks.

So why a Go Fund Me page?

Dustin has been off of work since February 5th, the day of the incident, and will be off for at least 8 weeks after his surgery in March. Over this time he will have little to no income due to not having short term disability insurance. On top of everything else, Dustin is supposed to be getting married in April.

Dustin's insurance deductible alone is $5000, and this is on top of any co-pays, unpaid medical bills, medications or therapy that he may have to pay for out of pocket.

Dustin's lack of income for the next few months also means that he has no means of covering rent, utilities, groceries and other monthly living expenses while he recovers from his surgery.

The funds raised through your generous donations will be used to help Dustin cover basic living expenses, his medical deductible and any unforseen expenses as they arise until he is able to return to work.

Some background information:

Unfortunately this heart issue is not the first severe medical issue Dustin has faced in his life.

In March of 1989, when Dustin was just 14 months old he was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblasthoma, a rare cancer of the nervous system that only affects children. Dustin had a tumor in his chest that was larger than a baseball, stretching from his abdomen to his heart. It was wrapped around his spine, crushing his lungs and putting pressure on his heart. Without surgery Dustin had 2 weeks to live.

Unfortunately the surgery option was not much better. Due to the size of the tumor, the length of the surgery (10 hours) and Dustin's small size at 14 months the surgeon gave Dustin a very low chance of surviving the surgery, and stated that if he somehow managed to survive he would be paralyzed from the waist down for life.

Dustin survived the surgery, but as expected, he was paralyzed. He spent three weeks in the hospital and was discharged. After his 3rd week at home, Dustin somehow suddenly stood up on his own. Withing 30 minutes he was walking again. Thank God for miracles.

By the time he was 3 years old Dustin had undergone 1 1/2 years of experimental chemotherapy, 4 radiation treatments and multiple surgeries. He had Last Rights 3 times, his lungs had collapsed 7 seperate times, he had once been life flighted to the hospital due to complications and he was left with a heart murmur and severe scoliosis...... all by the age of 3.

At 4 years old Dustin was my Best Man when his mother and I were married.

When Dustin was in middle school he again had to undergo surgery to remove lymph nodes in his chin. Soon after graduating high school Dustin had yet another surgery to repair a torn achilles tendon.

Fast forward to 2 years ago, Dustin began to have issues swallowing when eating. After testing it was found tgat the nerves / muscles in his throat that regulate swallowing had began to malfunction and were firing in the wrong order making swallowing quite difficult. This often made him feel as if he was choking. On top of this they found that the opening between his stomach and throat had become so tight an constricted that he was having to literally force food through the opening. These issues required yet another surgery to ensure Dustin could still eat. While they were able to fix the opening of his stomach, the nerve damage could not be repaired so he still has issue with eating / swallowing properly.

And now he once again has to have surgery, this time to repair his heart.

Dustin's amazing attitude:

Throughout everything Dustin has endured he has NEVER once felt sorry for himself, never played the victim, never asked for pity or had a "poor me" attitude, and he NEVER once gave up.

Quite the opposite, Dustin has the most positive attitude one could ever want to see. Not one to say "I can't" when faced with challenges or obstacles, Dustin's attitude is " I have to figure out how to do that / how to accomplish that /what works for me."

After undergoing his cancer treatments Dustin used his story and experiences to participate in the University of Iowa Dance Marathon, helping an amazing group of college students raise money to provide emotional and financial support for pediatric cancer patients and their families. Dustin even donated an entire years allowance at 8 years old to this cause.

Dustin has refused to go on disability, even though he easily qualifies for it, stating "why do that when I can work? Maybe some day I will be forced to because if my health, but if I can work I'm going to work." This young man can outwork me.

10 years ago he fullfilled his dream of becoming a semi driver and has been doing that ever since. After this surgery Dustin may not be able to return to this profession.

My goal :

In creating this Go Fund Me page my goal is quite simple, to help my son keep his head above water and cover his medical bills and living expenses while he recovers so he can return to work and pay this kindness forward down the road.

Final thoughts:

Let's be honest,

Swallowing pride, setting ego aside and asking friends, family and complete strangers for help is not something any of us ever thought we would have to do.

This request is not something I take lightly, and it is a very humbling experience to reach out to people in this manner to ask for help. That being said, I would do anything for my two boys and I hope that after reading Dustin's story you can find it in your hearts to help him through a donation towards this goal.

I greatly appreciate you taking the time to read Dustins story and I will be forever grateful for any help you are gracious enough to provide. Thank you so much,

John Schroeder