Justin Real's Emergency Spine Surgery

Hello to our beautiful community that has become family. If you know AJ & Justin personally, you know the wild ride they have been through to build and bring their Specialty Coffee Shop Dream to Reality in Loveland to life with the ultimate goal of creating an Exceptional Experience in an Engaging Atmosphere not only for them but to share with all of YOU beautiful humans.

To any of you that have been following their story, you know Justin had gone to Germany in November 2022 for a much-needed spine surgery that was due over a decade ago. This led to his not being at the coffee bar much over the past few years. His spine surgery became very urgent, bordering emergent at times. Daily functions like standing, sitting, driving, pulling shots at the bar and general tasks became incredibly difficult to push through. The amount of years his displaced spine has been compressing the nerve is making for a longer-than-anticipated recovery. While we were all incredibly optimistic about the outcome Justin's pain was nowhere near controlled and he was in agony. After pleading with nurses and physicians at the hospital to do additional imaging in Germany they were met with "this is normal" and not given the attention needed. Imaging was done, but not shared and relayed as "normal". None of this is/was normal and thankfully AJ advocates for Justin tirelessly.

After making it back home and continuing to be in excruciating pain daily, losing more and more feeling in his legs and toes, they were able to get emergency imaging locally which confirmed some of their biggest fears. The surgeon in Germany had drilled one of the screws improperly leaving the screw touching the nerve root.

Justin was taken into surgery emergently on Wednesday, December 21st with two of the original screws needing to be replaced and the hardware needing to be moved back into its proper place. At this time we are happy to say that while this is still a monumentally difficult time physically and emotionally for our family, the outcome is much better; Justin is in less pain than he has been since waking up from surgery in Germany.

We are asking for help with the hospital and surgical bills that are astronomical in this situation. This fundraiser will not only help us pay for Justin to continue to get the help and rehabilitation he needs, but it'll also help keep our dream of creating alive.

The Dark Hearty Dream to Reality is nothing without all of your amazing encouragement, support and love. We are endlessly thankful for YOU! Our first-time customers, our die-hard dark hearties, our amazing dedicated team that breathes integrity and intention while running the show like a well-oiled machine, our amazing family and our friends that have become family. We appreciate each of you If you cannot donate, please share at the very least. We can't do this without you.