Medical fund for Andy Brodt

Friends & Family,

On Friday evening of June 16th, Andy was found by his wife Brit, in a pool of sweat, delirious, breathing rapidly and severely dehydrated. Within minutes of finding him, she rushed him to the IU North ER. Upon checking in, Andy’s blood pressure had dropped to 85/37. Most of his other symptoms were rather atypical to his eventual diagnosis, which lead the highly skilled ER physicians to start a serious of tests throughout the night including an echo, XRAY, EKG and multiple blood tests to try and uncover what was causing his condition. It was eventually determined, that what had started as a viral infection earlier in the week, had possibly caused fluid around his heart leading to the change in blood pressure. A cardiologist was called in and saw something more on the echo. He called Methodist Hospital to get the cardiac surgery team prepped and on stand-by and ordered a CT Scan. This judgment call would later save Andy’s life. He was certain that what was causing fluid around the heart was an aortic dissection - a serious condition in which the inner layer of the aorta, the large blood vessel branching off the heart, tears and blood starts pumping into the area around the heart. From this moment, every minute started to become crucial in saving him. He was rushed by ambulance at 3am to IU Methodist downtown under the care of Dr. Coffey.

At 8:45am that same morning, Andy was taken to the OR and underwent the 5-hour open heart surgery to repair his aorta. During surgery, they did find that the tear ruptured, but they got to it just in time before causing fatal complications. It was determined at his follow up cardiology appointment that the virus may have been what caused inflammation in the aorta which caused the aorta to tear. Andy came out of surgery in stable condition, but was told recovery was going to be long and difficult. If you know Andy Brodt, Andy is a fighter, and by the next day he impressed all of the doctors and nurses with his strength! He was able to be taken off the ventilator the same evening of this surgery and by mid-afternoon the following day, was sitting up and took a few steps down the hall in the cardiac critical care unit. Andy is still in recovery, but the surgery was successful. Recovery both in and out of the hospital will be long, but the care team believes that he will recover well.

As many know, Andy has battled and overcome more than one serious health scare, nearly costing his life, in the last two years. This has lead to numerous doctor visits, several surgeries, and mounting medical costs. In 2016, Andy was diagnosed with a serious bladder cancer and defied the odds stacked against him. He is still recovering from that major surgery and receives scans every 3-Months.

This fund is being set up to show love and support to Andy, his wife Brittani, and their baby boy due to be born in just a couple months. A portion of the money raised will be given to help the Brodt family face the out of pocket expenses that come along with such a serious surgery and post-op recovery, as well as help cover the bills during the time that Andy will have to take unpaid leave from his job between now and when Baby Brodt is born - A time they had planned on saving and preparing for this new bundle of joy. Amid focusing and worrying about Andy's care and the upcoming birth of their son, we hope they won't have to worry about money. By their request, 10% of the donations will be given to the Direct Relief Safety Net Program (USA), a charity supporting medical expenses to those who can’t afford insurance to cover any of their medical expenses. Prayers and good vibes to Andy for his strength and speed of recovery!