Help my Bacca (Grandpa)
Donation protected
My name is Hailey Croat and I am making this to help support my grandparents. My Grandpa (Kevin ZumBerge or Bacca) suffered a heart attack on Friday, October 28th, at his hunting shack up north. The shack is located in Floodwood, MN and he was there to build/repair deerstands for us grandkids to use the following weekend. He had lots of trouble with the chainsaw that day, so when he start experiencing the pain, he thought it was just sore from all the work they had been doing. His brother, Dave, who is also a retired state trooper, made him take ibuprofen and baby aspirin immediately. Eventually, Bacca decided it was serious and an ambulance needed to be called.
Considering Floodwood is 45 minutes away from a Hospital that could really help him, there were many complications along the way. His heart stopped multiple times and a breathing tube was placed very forcibly. Upon arriving at St. Mary's hospital in Duluth (where he still is now), a stint was placed and he was stabilized, but remained critical. All of us (his four daughters, my grandma, and I) headed on up right away. We are all about 3-4 hours southwest. Once we had all arrived, he was sedated from surgery and still on the breathing tube. We all stayed at the hospital that night.
The next morning we were told that he would be kept sedated, being that they were sucking up bloody secretions from his lungs and his oxygen levels were very low. They needed to keep his temperature very low (to essentially chill him) to preserve the brain for 24 hours as a precaution, considering the body did lose oxygen everytime his heart stopped. After those 24 hours, so on Sunday the 30th, they started to heat him back up and take him off of his sedation to see if he would wake up. Sadly, he did not. He coughed up more bloody secretions and although he was moving and trying to breathe over the ventilator, his breathing was not providing him enough oxygen, so they ended up needing to give him a paralytic. This episode also led him to have another heart attack, leading him to need 2 more stints placed.
Since then, my Bacca has stayed sedated and fluid has accummulated in his body, but especially in his lungs. They now think that he most likely has pneumonia, something that will prolong the process. His lungs are full of gunk that they are needing to come out. Because of all of this fluid, whenever they turn him, his stats drop, but have been able to quickly rebound for now. His EKGs have shown that his heart is functionally properly and his EEG showed a slowing in function, but that there is activity. We need to get an MRI, but he is unable to lay flat because of all the fluids in his body and he can only be on 4 medications and is currently on 8. This is now day 6 here in Duluth and we are hoping this weekend, November 5th-7th, we get some good news/progress.
This GoFundMe is being created to support my grandmother in this time. Considering we are from so far away, my family has been forced to stay in hotels and eat out for all of their meals. My grandmother had multiple strokes 10 years ago and is medically unable to work, and has not worked for years. My Bacca worked so hard to support her and makes everything easier for her. She no longer has that. The bills for all of this will start to come and we are unsure where this money will come from. There are bills at home that need to be payed as well. My Bacca had health insurance for himself and my grandma through his work, and the full premium will now need to be payed. Now that he is not working, his employer will not pay their part, meaning the cost will be much higher. If my Bacca does recover, something we are all hoping for, they are saying that there will be rehab no matter what, but because of the amount of paralytics they ended up needing to give him, it could take months.
We have all been doing all we can to switch off paying for meals and hotel rooms, but we will not all be able to always be up here, but are now making plans to take turns considering he may be in this medically induced coma for awhile. St. Mary's has been extremely great to us and we have loved all of their staff. We are thankful that he is here being cared for and loved on, but the distance is extremely difficult. Who knows when my grandma will be able to sleep in her own bed.
We were hesitant in creating this account, but have had people ask how to get money to us, and have now realized that we truly need all the help we can get. Any little amount helps and if you are unable to donate, please keep my Bacca and our family in your thoughts and prayers. We would like to say thank you in advance for taking the time to read our story and your consideration regarding donation and prayer.
Considering Floodwood is 45 minutes away from a Hospital that could really help him, there were many complications along the way. His heart stopped multiple times and a breathing tube was placed very forcibly. Upon arriving at St. Mary's hospital in Duluth (where he still is now), a stint was placed and he was stabilized, but remained critical. All of us (his four daughters, my grandma, and I) headed on up right away. We are all about 3-4 hours southwest. Once we had all arrived, he was sedated from surgery and still on the breathing tube. We all stayed at the hospital that night.
The next morning we were told that he would be kept sedated, being that they were sucking up bloody secretions from his lungs and his oxygen levels were very low. They needed to keep his temperature very low (to essentially chill him) to preserve the brain for 24 hours as a precaution, considering the body did lose oxygen everytime his heart stopped. After those 24 hours, so on Sunday the 30th, they started to heat him back up and take him off of his sedation to see if he would wake up. Sadly, he did not. He coughed up more bloody secretions and although he was moving and trying to breathe over the ventilator, his breathing was not providing him enough oxygen, so they ended up needing to give him a paralytic. This episode also led him to have another heart attack, leading him to need 2 more stints placed.
Since then, my Bacca has stayed sedated and fluid has accummulated in his body, but especially in his lungs. They now think that he most likely has pneumonia, something that will prolong the process. His lungs are full of gunk that they are needing to come out. Because of all of this fluid, whenever they turn him, his stats drop, but have been able to quickly rebound for now. His EKGs have shown that his heart is functionally properly and his EEG showed a slowing in function, but that there is activity. We need to get an MRI, but he is unable to lay flat because of all the fluids in his body and he can only be on 4 medications and is currently on 8. This is now day 6 here in Duluth and we are hoping this weekend, November 5th-7th, we get some good news/progress.
This GoFundMe is being created to support my grandmother in this time. Considering we are from so far away, my family has been forced to stay in hotels and eat out for all of their meals. My grandmother had multiple strokes 10 years ago and is medically unable to work, and has not worked for years. My Bacca worked so hard to support her and makes everything easier for her. She no longer has that. The bills for all of this will start to come and we are unsure where this money will come from. There are bills at home that need to be payed as well. My Bacca had health insurance for himself and my grandma through his work, and the full premium will now need to be payed. Now that he is not working, his employer will not pay their part, meaning the cost will be much higher. If my Bacca does recover, something we are all hoping for, they are saying that there will be rehab no matter what, but because of the amount of paralytics they ended up needing to give him, it could take months.
We have all been doing all we can to switch off paying for meals and hotel rooms, but we will not all be able to always be up here, but are now making plans to take turns considering he may be in this medically induced coma for awhile. St. Mary's has been extremely great to us and we have loved all of their staff. We are thankful that he is here being cared for and loved on, but the distance is extremely difficult. Who knows when my grandma will be able to sleep in her own bed.
We were hesitant in creating this account, but have had people ask how to get money to us, and have now realized that we truly need all the help we can get. Any little amount helps and if you are unable to donate, please keep my Bacca and our family in your thoughts and prayers. We would like to say thank you in advance for taking the time to read our story and your consideration regarding donation and prayer.
Organizer and beneficiary
Hailey Croat
Organizer
Arlington, MN
Ashley Burtyk
Beneficiary