Aloha I am starting this Gofundme on behalf of my uncle Sebastian Kimo Akiu,

On Tuesday March 19, 2024 Kimo was rushed to North Hawaii Community Hospital from his home by ambulance due to his heart repeatedly entering into Ventricular Tachycardia (Vtach) causing his pacemaker to repeatedly defibrillate him, during which time he has no control over his body. Shortly after being in the E.R. he was medevac from North Hawaii Community Hospital Emergency room to Queen’s Medical Center on Oahu as his heart was determined to be a case that could not be adequately treated on the Big Island.

The next day his heart experienced a “Vtach storm” where he was rushed to Queen’s ICU unit. Several doctors and heart specialists worked for hours to control his rapid heart rhythm where ultimately he needed to be intubated and put into a controlled medical coma. Doctors were eventually able to control his heart rhythm and get the Vtach to stop through medication and sedation. His family were notified at 2am on 3/21/24 about Kimo’s current state which was that he was sedated in a medical coma and put on several medications in order to suppress the dangerous heart rhythm. Three family members flew to see him that same day. Kimo was in a medical coma for eight days. Doctors had planned for Kimo to have an ablation of the heart which was a procedure that would last for several hours. However due to competitive scheduling, holidays, and Kimo developing a fever and pneumonia in the hospital the ablation procedure had to be postponed twice. Eventually the doctors determined that Kimo needed to come off sedation in order to prevent other psychological problems from happening.

Kimo was able to wake up and be coherent until another Vtach happened when he tried to do some physical therapy. The combination of all the Vtach attacks started to affect other organs in his body like his kidneys, the heart specialists determined that Kimo had two major issues with his heart. First is the abnormal rapid heart rhythm (Vtach) which is caused by an unknown source in the heart and second is an enlarged heart with very low functioning. The low functioning of the muscle part of his heart would make it too dangerous for Kimo to spend hours in an ablation procedure that would need to induce Vtach. So the ablation was canceled for the time being until the heart’s muscle and function can be addressed.

After a few days of letting his body recover and very hard coming to terms with this reality, some very tough decisions had to be made by Kimo…it was decided that his best chance of survival would be to fly to San Diego and receive a LVAD or a “mechanical heart.” This LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) will help the muscle part of his heart pump more efficiently making it stronger and able to support his body and organs. This surgery is not performed in Hawaii. After which the hope is that he will be able to safely enter into an ablation and reduce or eliminate the source of his heart causing the Vtach. Kimo’s long-term goal is a heart transplant.

Optimizing the opportunity Kimo had while his heart was stable, on 4/7/24 he was medevac to University of California San Diego’s medical center where he is at present. He may be here for 3-6 months or longer depending on if he can qualify for a heart transplant. His brother Kwai-Chang is currently there with him as his caretaker and companion. Kimo’s new team of doctors have been preparing his case to be considered for the LVAD and a few days ago he was accepted by the committee to receive the LVAD!! This is great news! Kimo is now preparing to have a date for the surgery. He still has quite a long way to go in order to reach his long term treatment goal and recovery.

The funds donated to Kimo will help him with his long medical journey ahead and take care of some medical bills he has since incurred. He will be in California for several months and after the surgery may need lodging and to attend a local (California) clinic for observation of his device and recovery. Those who know Kimo knows that he is the epitome of aloha, with his infectious personality and love…he is loved by many and has people in his life who he cares for like his siblings, nephew, nieces and grand nephew/nieces, his dear friends, work peeps and many more. We, his family, as well as Kimo, appreciate the overwhelming love and support shown to us thus far, thank you for all the phone call, texts and prayers. Any donation big or small will help Kimo in his time of need and hopefully help him to receive a new heart.