Kirk Quinbar's long journey to a NEW heart.

Hi, my name is Michaelle. Let me tell you the story about my husband, Kirk Quinbar. 18 years ago, Kirk suffered a major heart attack and needed a triple bypass surgery.

About one year later, he had an ICD/pacemaker put into his chest. With many setbacks during that time period, he got multiple shocks, and his heart started deteriorating more.

About a year and a half ago, he started suffering from major fatigue and shortness of breath. Kirk went to see his primary doctor and was referred to his cardiologist. The cardiologist discovered he was in end-stage heart failure, which brings us to April 2nd, 2024. Kirk had an LVAD put into his left ventricle at the bottom of his heart (Left Ventricle Assist Device), which was pumping blood to his aorta because his heart was only functioning at 18%. The LVAD was a bridge to a future heart transplant somewhere down the road.

The future started today!!

At 11:20 this morning, Kirk was taken into surgery to remove his LVAD and heart, which is about 4 1/2 hours. At 3:00 p.m. today, his old heart will already be removed, and a new donor heart will be put in its place. The final phase of his heart transplant surgery is expected to last until 7:00 p.m. tonight.

I will be updating periodically to let you know about Kirk's progress. My first update will be later tonight when Kirk is in recovery.

I will be updating this page with his progress as I find out more.

UPDATE! - Kirk is still in surgery it's going to be about two more hours. He is on the bypass right now and they are sewing in the new heart. I will let you know more as I find out thank you for all your love and support!

UPDATE - Kirk came out of surgery at 10:10 p.m. last night. There were some complications getting his LVAD and old heart out. He will be sedated today and possibly tomorrow. I will give more updates as I find out how he is doing.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, TO EVERYONE WHO HAS DONATED. IT IS TRULY APPRECIATED!!!

UPDATE - 10/24/24

Kirk is making really good progress. Late last night Kirk had his final stage of his heart transplant surgery. Due to the complications with the removal of his old heart in LVAD the doctors made the decision not to close his chest up until they were absolutely satisfied that the new heart was functioning the way it should.

I am happy to announce with the closing of his chest there were no complications, so they were able to remove his breathing tube also.

This morning on my visit I was amazingly surprised that Kirk was awake and able to stand with the assistance of his physical therapy team. The physical therapy team had him take a few steps to sit in his chair.

This is the beginning of a long recovery journey that Kirk will be on for the coming year.

As of right now I am currently unemployed and after speaking with the doctors I was informed that Kirk will need 24/7 care for the first 3 months.

I have a favor to ask. If there is someone who is able to help me pick up a lift chair for Kirk to use when he gets home, we will need someone with a truck and two strong gentlemen. If you're able to help please contact me at [phone redacted].

I would like to get this done sooner rather than later. I would appreciate anyone that is able to help me with this as Kirk will need this chair as soon as he gets home.

Lastly, I appreciate all the text and phone calls, however, at this time I am so overwhelmed that is impossible for me to respond to eveyonr reaching out to me.

So, I will be updating Kirk's GoFundMe page with all of Kirk's progress.

Anytime I do an update, I will announce it on Kirk's Facebook page and my Facebook page that there is a new update on Kirk's GoFundMe page.

Much love,

Michaelle