Bill Burden is a good man. He is the best man I know. He has worked for the same church for more than twenty years. He gives all he can to everyone, every day. He doesn't make a lot of money. The church pays what they can. He and I struggle, but we make it. We don't always live as comfortably as we would like, but we make due and we are happy.

A couple weeks ago, Bill said he was having a pain in his chest. But it went away. He said he was throwing up at the gym several mornings in a row. I said we should take him to the doctor immediately, but he wasn't crazy about that idea because we have not been able to afford a health insurance policy for him this year and he didn't want to think about the cost. Bill does not drink or smoke or do drugs. He exercises religiously.

Bill continued going to the gym the next few days and even took a long walk in our neighborhood last Monday during the Labor Day holiday. Then that night - 2am in the morning - he said he really wasn't feeling well. He was in pain, but was calm and collected. We got dressed and I drove him to the ER nearby. They took him in right away and hooked him up to run an EKG. I saw one of the nurses point to the monitor. That's when the nightmare began. The nurse told me to be prepared for lots of staff to come swarming the room - and that's what happened.

I won't go into all the details, but a little more than a week later, I brought Bill back home to begin the long recovery process of a very unexpected triple bypass surgery. While the surgeon was amazing and the nursing staff was top-notch, Bill and I did not budget for a $400,000 surgery and ICU stay this year.

Like many people we know, we just cannot afford the medical care that we sometimes need. That is why we are swallowing our pride and asking for help. I set this up for him so he can try to recover without the entire stress of this huge financial burden. Please help if you can.