Help support Damon's Esophageal Rupture recovery

On Saturday August 19th, 2020 Damon came home from work, while eating lunch with his family he felt a "pop" in his chest area, stood up and went to the bathroom. At that moment he started  vomiting blood, and then a burning sensation came as he had difficulty breathing . We called the ambulance  immediately , they rushed him to the nearest hospital in Durham and after close observation they needed to transfer him 2 hours away to see a Thoracic specialist at St-Mary's General hospital in Kitchener. Damon undergone a 6 hour operation for "esophageal rupture". The fluids from his stomach had enough time to leak into his chest and cause severe lungs problems and a massive infection. If Damon  hadn't been rushed to the hospital at St-Mary's that night, he wouldn't have survived. The surgeon was able to find the rupture and fix it, clean up as much of the infection as possible, and also had to deal with 2 collapsed lungs. The leak from the stomach kept happening so the surgeon had to place one stent down his esophagus to close off the area that open. The stent did not stay long in place because his esophagus tissue was too fragile. The stent started to migrate down the stomach so the surgeon had to put it back in place. A couple day's later there was still signs of leaking, so a second stent had to be put in place. Damon had to be intubated and on life support for more then 19 day's, he now had a tracheostomy and just started to train his lungs to breath on his own for the first time. His life is on hold but he's still fighting every day to get better for him and his family. At the moment he has 2 different infections,  pneumonia, blood clot in his lung's, Fever, tachycardia, and high blood pressure, not to mention pain, delirium and hallucination from the sedation that he had in the ICU.  We are still hoping that the two stents will hold in place. The healing  process will take several months which will include physical, cognitive and mental rehabilitation.  

Damon's family has been affected mentally, physically and financially. This fundraiser is to support and help Damon's wife (Marie-Andree), and two kids (Nash, and Reed) continue to move forward in life during these difficult times. We want to thank everyone for your donations and appreciate your support during this difficult time.

Thank you and keep Damon and his family in your prayers.