Please Help Andrew Through His Open Heart Surgery!

For 35 years, Andrew Peterson has been our little community’s chiropractor. He has helped change, for the better, the lives of so many of us who live in both chronic and acute pain. Andrew has been known to unstintingly work through his lunch hours, frequently stay after closing time, and has often opened his practice on weekends if someone truly needed him. 

Now Andrew desperately needs our help!

 Andrew requires open heart surgery, and it needs to happen very soon.  He had no idea that there was anything wrong with his heart; Andrew has normal cholesterol and as a doctor dedicated to health and well-being, has worked diligently to take care of himself through proper diet and exercise.  After experiencing unexplained and overwhelming fatigue, along with chest pressure and shortness of breath, he decided to see a cardiologist, especially since he is an adopted child and knows nothing about his biological parents. His Coronary Calcium Scoring Test revealed a score of 975, which is extremely high and indicated heavy calcification of the aortic valve. This finding led to additional tests which revealed a congenital aortic valve abnormality with severe stenosis which needs replacing immediately. 

 Andrew could have a fatal heart attack at any given moment with the lack of blood flow to his heart!  Learning that he was suddenly in a life or death situation was devastating, and quite overwhelming, especially because he and his family are still recovering financially and physically from a severe mudslide/flood two and a half years ago which required extensive repairs as well as all of his savings. 

 Another crisis so recently following the flood disaster has left Andrew and his family in an untenable situation. 

 Andrew does not want early retirement; he loves his profession and his patients and desperately wants to continue practicing several more years here in the Pismo/Shell Beach area.  This is his home.  It is where he settled down, a Vietnam era veteran with the 82nd Airborne Division, who after serving, fulfilled his dream of becoming a chiropractic doctor. 

In this small, rural community, doctors accept the fact that their income will never match those of more urban areas. The benefit of a tight-knit community and slower pace, the satisfaction of really making a difference in people’s lives, those patients whom you see while at the post office, grocery store or anywhere else in such a small town is a welcome trade-off for a caring doctor.  Andrew doesn’t turn away the needy; he treats rich and poor alike, with dignity and respect. 

 Please help us who know the value of this special man, to help him in his time of need.  Please help Andrew save his practice and livelihood so he won’t have to leave us. 

 Medical bills, the inability to practice for 4-5-6 months after surgery, the lease to keep his office and salaries for his staff all will require approximately $120,000.  This is our goal; please help us raise this money so we can help this generous, caring man who has taken such great care of all of us. We’ve needed him all of these years, now he needs us.