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Help JR have a home to come back to!!

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On Monday, November 2, 2020, Junior woke up not feeling very well and felt very cold. He moved from the bed to the couch because the living room is warmer in our home. As the day progressed he felt worst and worst. He called me (his wife) around 2:30 that afternoon with slurred speech and was very confused. I hung up with him and called our son and told him to get his dad into the pickup and rush him to the hospital. (Where we live, the pickup was much faster than an ambulance). When I got to the hospital, The staff informed me that the tests that they ran showed that he had a minor heart attack and that they wanted to admit him for observation. While we were holding each other, JR went very limp and the whole right side of his body went completely limp. He was having a stroke. The Dr got him in for an MRI pretty quickly after that. The nurse informed me that they had never seen someone change that quickly. We already had the CT which showed that he did have a mild heart attack and when the MRI came back it showed that he had not one, but two strokes.  Due to Covid, it took them almost 22 hours just to get him to ICU. On 11/4/2020 he had an angiogram done on his cartid arteries and then his heart after that. His left Cartid artery shows 95% blockage while the right shows 78% blockage. The major arteries in his heart show between 75 and 95 percent blockage and he will also have to have bypass surgery. It will be for 5 arteries, unless they can fix some other ways while they are in there. Keep in mind that JR has NEVER had high blood pressure or a heart attack before this day. The Sunday prior, he was cutting up and joking around with family. This all came on very suddenly with no warning. The Drs are baffled on how this is like this with no warning. When I ask, the only reason the Dr's can give me is "God".  Right now JR is being closely monitored in ICU and is given steady blood thinners (Heparin). Over the next couple weeks, JR will have to have three major surgeries. First will be the left cartid artery, then after a couple of days to heal a bit and all goes well he will have surgery to repair the right one. A few days after that if it all goes well, he will be transferred to a cardiac hospital, by ambulance for bypass surgery.  JR is a truck driver (local) and will not be able to have a Health card to keep driving for at least a year. Being able to get one after that is questionable. A health card is required when driving 18 wheelers and most CDL required vehicles. I drive a school bus for a living and with there being a pandemic, it would be dangerous for me to be around that many people and him as well. If he were to catch Covid while having all this, we would lose him for sure. While I do have some vacation time, it will not hold out for long and I am also losing any extra work I did to make the money to just cover our truck and house payment. JR paid for everything else. He had just transferred jobs he also has no health insurance or any paid time off with his job.  The funds that are collected will be used to make sure he has a home to come to when he gets out of the hospital. It will be used to keep the utilities on, buy food and gas to keep me where I can go back and forth to the hospital. Any money remaining after he is discharged will go to his medical expenses and assure he has the medication he needs until we hear back from Medicaid. Time is very limited with the Covid virus so I have to take what I can get and have to be ready at any moment. I am getting his disability started as soon as I am able but we all know how long that could take. Junior was a volunteer firefighter for approximately 18 years and has always been the type of person that would help anyone in need and has helped save countless lives. I am praying that I can tell him that people are helping him now and he can rest easy and fight for his life without worry! While he is in the hospital, he is more concerned about his son and I as well. JR never puts himself above anyone else.  Thank you in advance for any help and God Bless you always.

Fundraising team (2)

Julie Howard
Organizer
Raised $140 from 4 donations
Jacksonville, AR
Deborah Templin
Team member

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