On March 17th Jimmy passed away . His family and friends will miss him terribly. Thank you to all for the support for Jimmy and his sweet family. The world will be a little less bright without him but we were all lucky to have known him. The family will still need help as they adjust to their new normal. If you can’t donate please keep them in your thoughts and prayers- Ladonya

On Dec 17th, 2024, Jimmy's defibrillator shocked him 42 times due to complications of FLU-A. He was rushed to Huntsville where a heart cath was done, and it was determined there was nothing Huntsville could do for him. Due to the underlying heart conditions and vascular disease he has been fighting for 20 years, they intubated him to keep him comfortable from the shocks and called in the family to be with him until hopefully UAB accepted him. On 12/20, he was transferred to UAB and placed in CCU, an hour and a half away from his home.

His lungs had collapsed, he was on all 4 arrhythmia medicines available in the USA to regulate his heartbeat, he was in a medically induced coma due to the severity of his sickness, proned several times, had a huge bed sore on his backside, and had MRSA and pneumonia in his lungs. The CCU teams at UAB were doing all they could to keep him alive. After 23 days of being on the vent by mouth, they came to us and told us we had to either take him off of the vent and make him comfortable until he passed, or let the doctors perform a tracheostomy. This would allow him to be more mobile, do more PT, and heal his lungs if he were to survive. On Jan 14th, he had a tracheostomy. Over the next couple of weeks, Jimmy would be moved to a special care unit to start his journey of coming off the trach and doing more PT so he could be released to rehab and come home. After 40 days in the hospital, he was finally able to have his first sip of water for a swallow test, and on day 42, he was able to “eat.” Jimmy had beat all of the odds; his lungs were getting stronger, he stood up out of the bed, he had begun to eat normal foods, and was moved to a regular room. On Feb 12th (24 hours from being accepted into rehab), Jimmy's oxygen and blood pressure crashed. He was moved back to CCU and placed back on forced oxygen via BiPAP. He has had a chest tube put in to drain fluid off of his lungs, but his heart is in cardiogenic shock, which is very life-threatening. Due to the distance and the severity of his condition, his wife of 37 years, Michelle, had to leave her job to be with him. With the future being so uncertain at this point, we would appreciate any donations you are able to give.