Hi everyone. My name is Sherri. This is rather awkward for me, so bear with me. My husband, Jesus, is very sick. Most people that I will share this with have known him for years from different jobs.

He is going to be 68 years old in June. He has worked since he was 15. In 2012, he had his first stent placed in his heart. In 2020, he caught the original strain of COVID, and we almost lost him. This resulted in some lung damage. But a month later, he was back to work. He has always worked to provide for me and our 4 children (now teenagers). He retired at 62, which lasted a month because he got bored and got two part-time jobs.

On April 4, 2025, he went to the hospital because of abdominal pain and was admitted. They found out that he now has COPD, colitis, a blockage to one kidney, and a blockage in the artery going to one foot. While in the hospital, we learned that his heart was pumping at 35%. Being the person he is, he was discharged and went back to work two days later. He ended up in the hospital with CHF (congestive heart failure) a couple of weeks later. And once again, he was discharged and went back to work. He's old school and believes the man provides for his family. Not that I mind that because he is a great provider, husband, father, and my best friend.

Throughout the month of April, he had to take days off here and there not just for the hospital stays but also because he had trouble breathing and just felt too weak.

On April 22, 2025, we stopped at Oak Street Health to set up his first appointment there. PS, they are great for those on Medicare.

While we sat in the waiting room, they noticed how hard he was breathing and put him on oxygen. The doctor there immediately took him to the back and started testing. I had the records from his last two hospital stays, and that doctor went through everything and told us to return for 5 hours of testing the next day. They treated him with steroids and a nebulizer treatment, and he was breathing great.

The next day, we returned. After all the testing, they told us he had an EF35 (heart pumping at 35%). The doctor told him he needed to stop working because it was dangerous to lift heavy items. Jesus was devastated.

We went home and explained things to our teenagers, and they all asked him to quit working and they would get jobs and take care of him.

On April 24th, he called off work because his stomach was bothering him once again. The doctor called from Oak Street Health and told him to go to the ER because the blood tests from the day before indicated that he was bleeding internally. Seven hours later in the ER, we found out that his gall bladder had ruptured and was leaking bile into his body. He was admitted again. They did an echocardiogram and found out that the gall bladder infection caused his heart to now drop to EF10. They couldn't remove the gall bladder because his heart was too weak, so they placed a tube going through his abdomen into his gall bladder to drain all the bile into a drain bag. They said there was nothing more that they could do except the antibiotics to clear the infection, and maybe with meds and rest, he could come back in a month or two and they could stent his heart and get more blood flowing. They gave us the choice of a nursing home or he could go home and I would care for him with a life vest on.

A life vest is literally a vest worn against the skin just below the chest. It is an external defibrillator. When he goes into cardiac arrest, the life vest will issue a shock and shock his heart into starting again.

I would have NEVER allowed a nursing home, so he came home with us. He is constantly worried about money. Constantly upset about not being able to work.

His doctors are shocked at the fact that he can still drive (the vest will vibrate and he would pull over the car before it would shock him). He can drive to appointments, but then when we get home, he falls asleep for hours because he did too much. I go with him everywhere. Just in case, I am there if he needs help.

Yesterday, the tube dislodged from his gall bladder, and now Monday they decide what to do about that now.

I am asking for help. I want to try to help him to worry about one less thing, money. As you all know, at this time, it's a big thing to ask. I know everyone has their own struggles right now, so anything helps.

Thank you for reading and considering this for our family.