Record Scratch. Yep, that's me. I bet you're wondering how I got here. It all started back in April having fun at the Renaissance Faire but when I got home I took too deep a breath and heard my lung pop. After my blood pressure went into hypertension nearing critical I went to the hospital to find my lung had collapsed (pneumothorax) and was placing pressure on my heart. A tube was put in and after 48 hours of nausea and heavy pain the tube was removed and I was on the month long road to recovery, spending my birthday doing so.

Now in July, after getting a bout of food poisoning, it reopened, albeit smaller than the first time. There's a procedure called VATS (Video Assisted Thoracic Surgery) that heavily lowers the risk of this happening ever again. Without it my lung could collapse simply from coughing too hard eventually and happen multiple times a year. There's still a month long recovery from this of course.

Pneumothorax or spontaneous collapsed lungs are most common in skinny and tall males, which describes me well, and these still tend happen if they're no longer skinny so the surgery is the only real form of prevention.

While these goals won't completely cover the costs, any donations are very appreciated and would help me cover the emergency care I received including imaging, CT Scans and X-rays, breathing therapy and doctor visit follow ups.

While I'm more than grateful for every donation of any amount, the job search for me this year has been rough. A connection in your industry that's software or tech adjacent be it programming or IT would go above and beyond a donation in helping me get back on my feet after the recovery.