Hi everyone,

If you made it to this page, I'm guessing it's because you know myself or my family. I appreciate you even taking the time to read this.

I'll get right to it. My dad, after feeling some chest pains and extreme shortness of breath the morning of Friday, July 18th, went to visit his doctor and had some tests run. Once the results came back, he was told to go to the ER immediately, since he had symptoms of either "just having had a heart attack, or about to have one" . He was admitted to the ER and eventually moved to the ICU, where he stayed while they ran tests and decided the next course of action.

The next day, they performed a catheterization on him to see how bad the situation was and potentially unclog any blockage. When the cardiologist opened him up, he realized he had more clogs, and decided it would be best to have a bypass surgery. After being evaluated, it was confirmed he was good to go and he went through a triple bypass surgery the next Tuesday. Thankfully, the surgery went well, and he was discharged from the hospital the following Saturday.

Now that he's been out of the hospital for almost a month, he is doing cardiotherapy (cardiac rehab) sessions 3 times a week, as well as routine visits to the surgeon, cardiologist, and a neurologist for another nerve condition he had before the heart attack. As you can imagine, dealing with his work's Short-term/Long-term disability has been stressful and complicated. Latest update from his PCP is a recommendation to not go back to work at all, or go back for only 4 hours a day max, with minimum physical effort. He is slowly recovering, but the financial stress of it all is starting to be a burden on my parents.

If you know my dad, you know just how hard and how much he works. If you ever came to my house during any summer/holiday nights while we were in college, you'd probably see him either getting home very late from one warehouse job or leaving very early in the morning to the next one. He is 100% someone who's always done the work, without hesitating, without complaining, and my mom has been there to do the same every step of the way.

I'd like you to know we are also planning to have a cake sale the weekend of September 26th, in case you are in Laredo, San Antonio, or Austin. You can check my Instagram or Facebook for details. That being said, after debating it for a while, I decided to lean on those around us for some help. I hope you know my first preference would be for you to buy a cake, since that way I can at least provide something in return for your help. But if you do feel obliged, please, feel free to donate any amount you'd like.

If you stuck around till the end of this, know that I am already so grateful. Thank you for reading this, and for being a part of our lives.