Early Tuesday (July 26th, 2022) morning, my big brother Matt set off for the ER at INOVA Loudoun with severe pain all through his shoulder, radiating down his back. Several hours later, the doctors diagnosed him with pulmonary embolism and gallbladder stones. His lungs are riddled with blood clots. The large clot in his right lung has caused a piece of his lung tissue to die. The doctors are calling Matt lucky: this same large clot was very close to settling in a spot where it would have blocked blood flow to both lungs and would have caused death.

Over the next day, Matt developed pneumonia, had very low lung capacity and was in excruciating pain. As the antibiotics, blood thinners and pain medicine are beginning to work, he is finally starting to feel like he isn’t suffocating. He will have a long road to recovery that the doctors are projecting will take 2 to 6 months. We still don’t know what caused this and he and his family are deeply shaken.

Matt has a wife, Ellie, and three beautiful kids, Johnny (8), Scarlett (4) and Marie (1). He is a business owner and the main provider for his family. Matt is a third-generation gutter protection expert and owns and operates Hometown Gutters.

As Matt can barely breathe and walk now, he will not be able to work for at least the next two months and will have substantial medical bills from this hospital visit. If you can contribute to helping the family recover in any way, we all thank you wholeheartedly.