Help With Medical Emergency

Hello,

My name is Robert. I am a single father of five with two young girls, a fiance and soon to be stepdaughter at home. I was working a great full-time job that was very physical in nature. I would lift 2-3k pounds daily of material to be incinerated. Over the last couple of months or so I started to feel more fatigued after work than normal. I would find myself taking naps when I got home from work and that was certainly not normal. I have been under considerable amounts of stress lately with other family issues that I believed it was attributed to that.

On December 13th while at work, I was feeling more fatigued than I have been in recent days. I was feeling a deep pain in my upper chest on the right side, just below the collarbone. The pain felt intensified with physical exertion and would radiate down my right arm. The pain would subside or completely go away with a short rest and stretching. This made me feel like it was certainly a pulled muscle or a pinched nerve. I played sports in high school and have had several pulled muscles and pinched nerves in my life since.

The Scary Part;

That afternoon upon arriving home and showering, I checked my blood pressure, to rule that out; I'm too young I thought. I have had mild hypertension my whole life, passed down through the generations. Well, it turns out my BP was an alarming 174/121. This is a critically high and dangerous BP. I then had my fiance drive me to the local emergency room to get checked and be sure. This was at about 3pm. As it turn out I was in the process of an actual, active heart attack. With the hospitals so full because of the Flu, RSV, covid and our small town hospital not having beds I spent nearly 12hrs in the ER bed until the staff could find me a bed at a hospital in our state that could admit me. They were finally able to find me a hospital bed 75 miles away that could take me. They loaded me up in an ambulance and transported me to the new-to-me facility. I arrived and was admitted close to 5am. Here I am, 5am and 75 miles away from home alone, scared and actively having a heart attack. My fiance would later arrive after having a nap and gathering the kids.

The following day they scheduled an angiogram for me so they could take a look at my heart/arteries. It was determined that a stent would not be a viable option for me as they found too much blockage in more than 1 artery. I was heading for bypass surgery or CABG. It wasn't until the 17th that an ICU bed and OR opened for me to have surgery. That morning I was prepped for surgery. I left my family and headed down the halls to the operating room; terrified. I was scared that I was not going to see my family again, hold them, kiss them. I wound up having a quadruple bypass and there was more damage to my heart than originally thought. They used the radial artery from my left arm, a vein from my left thigh and an artery from my chest cavity to make the 4 grafts and give my heart the oxygen it was desperately craving. I had a couple of close calls while on the OR table and there was a brief time when they thought I wouldn't make out alive. The operation lasted 7 hours with my heart stopped for 4hrs. I pulled through, was stabilized and moved to the ICU to start recovery. I woke from anesthesia the evening of the 18th in a panic, tubes down my throat and unable to move. I was scared beyond belief that this was me.

I was sent home the afternoon of the 23rd; just in time for Christmas with my family. I have been in intense pain and limited motion since. I am now off work and will be for at least 8 weeks as I recover from bypass surgery and having my chest literally cut open. I am told by the surgeon that resuming my current job would probably be impossible. There is simply too much damage to my heart. I am covered in bruises and scars from this ordeal. It has been very depressing as I am only 45 years old. I have always had labor/trade jobs and now have to sit 3/4 of the day and can't lift more than 10 lbs. I am out of work which is very much needed to provide for my family. I have no savings and nothing of value I can sell to pay the bills and other expenses.

I will also have to cover all the treatments and co-pays my insurance will not cover. I have $6,500 out-of-pocket expenses as well.

I am asking for help. I would love the money to cover my bills and other expenses. I want to go to school to learn a new career if possible. I can not do the physical labor any longer. I am desperately in need of finances to help us through this difficult time.

UPDATE:

After meeting with my cardiologist and primary doctor it has been established that I can not return to my previous job. My heart is not healing and my blood flow is way under what it should be for a person my age or anyone really. Disability through my employer is not working out and SSDI is not available to me for at least another 6mos. I have very little energy and the medications are causing a lot of fatigue and muscle weakness.

I am very close to falling behind on all my bills and only need $3k to finally pay off my pickup. The utilities are close to being shut off and community resources are not going to be available fast enough. I have zero money coming in and it is becoming very stressful for me and my family. I haven't received child support since December 2022. I have nothing right now to support them and get them the things they need. They need shoes, clothes, school supplies, and more. I would also love to be able to give them some comfort and an escape from the stress in the way of a short family vacation, big family activity or something like that.

This is by far the most stressful experience in my 45 years on this earth. My children and family are terrified and I am equally as scared.

The only thing I can say is, please. Please help.

The only thing I can offer is to thank you. Thank you for the help.

A very big and heartfelt THANK YOU to everyone who has donated already. I can't thank you enough.