Help the Kalauli Family Through Medical Crisis

Aloha, my name is Gracie Kalauli and I'm writing on behalf of my parents, George & Melissa Kalauli.

Honestly, this is quite scary to broadcast what our family is currently going through, but we realized that we need help from our family, friends, and community.

On August 3rd, my parents and little brother were on the tail-end of their vacation when my Dad fell ill. He was rushed to the hospital via ambulance where they found he had a life-threatening aortic dissection.The surgeons informed my parents that Dad needed emergency open-heart surgery, and if he didn't have the surgery, he would die within a week. He was rushed into surgery and his medical team consisted of approximately 20 medical professionals, including two cardiac surgeons. The surgery was 10 and a half hours long. The longest 10 hours of our lives. My mom was terrified, but found the strength to keep all of us back home in Hawaii updated. We all prayed and asked everyone we knew to pray for Dad. The surgery was a success, but the road to recovery is a long one.

The silver lining is that my family was in Liverpool, England when this happened, and Liverpool Heart and Chest Hospital is one of the best cardiac hospitals in the world. We believe that God had his hand in this, and that God has big plans for my Dad.

While Dad is currently still in the hospital, my Mom and little brother are staying close by in Liverpool. I cannot imagine how my Mom is feeling being so far away from loved ones, in a foreign country, going through this alone. Since the doctors don't have a timeline of when Dad can be released, my Mom wants to fly home with my little brother so he can attend school. She'll turn around and fly back to England to be with Dad until he is certified "fit-to-fly" by his doctors. They informed us that his discharge will be complex because they have to travel so far to get home.

We are humbly asking for help to cover costs of travel. Dad won't be able to work for awhile, so donations will also help cover costs of out-of-pocket medical expenses, special accomodations/supplies that Dad will need during recovery, and other mounting expenses related to this unexpected and tragic event. Any amount will help, and if that's not possible for you, we ask that you keep Dad and our family in prayer and share this.

If you know my Dad, you know that he's always willing to help anyone who asks, but he would be so mad if he knew that we were asking for help via this platform. Dad is a great guy -- funny, hard-working and giving. As he fights his way back, I pray that he knows how much he is loved.

Let's rally around my Dad and cheer him on to a complete recovery.

I want to thank all of you for your time.

#kalaulistrong #thankyouGod