My brother Mike had heart surgery that took almost 8 hours.  Traveling hundreds of miles, Our Mom Candace, Dad Reggie and his new wife Carol, our Uncle Harry, and many friends and family and most importantly Mikes lovely wife Joyce and their beautiful 3 year old daughter are all hoping for Mikes speedy recovery.  Mike has touched so many lives and now he needs your help... In his own words, The following is what my brother Mike had to say: "Those of you that know me know that I have always tried to be there for my friends and to be a positive and supportive person. I have something I need to tell you. I have been in the hospital since Oct. 10th and will remain in the hospital through Dec. 3rd with home recovery immediately following. I am a proud man so this is hard to do but I need to ask for your help as I am not able to work. My monthly bills as well as my medical bills are piling up. I had a bacterial infection that attacked my heart which caused a lot of damage. This bacterial growth sent emboli to my brain causing small strokes. It also created a heart murmur which steadily got worse. I needed to have open heart surgery to replace the valve that housed the bacterial growth plus a double bypass on Oct. 22nd. I will be recovering from the surgery for twelve weeks which will be through the end of January. I will be in the hospital through Dec. 3rd for continuous antibiotic treatment for the bacterial infection. There will be four months where I am not able to work at all. This is why I am asking for your help. I would be eternally grateful for any help that you can give my family during this time. If any of you want to call me, you can call me direct or call my mom or brother. I get a little winded talking so I won’t be able to talk for long."

A timeline prepared by my mom: Michael was taken by ambulance on Oct. 10th.    He was intubated which put him into an induced coma. They thought he had meningitis & staphylococcus aureus at first. The doctors thought they would be able to treat him with antibiotics. After numerous MRI's, ultrasounds, TEE tests & a lumbar puncture among numerous other tests they found that he did not have meningitis but he did have the staphylococcus aureus which is a bacteria that created a growth in his heart. The growth caused vegetation which grew in the valve of his heart. This caused emboli showers from the bacteria to shoot into his brain causing small strokes. It also caused a heart murmur which kept getting worse. They did an angiogram and determined that they needed to do open heart surgery to remove the vegetation by replacing the valve & a double bypass as well.  They performed open heart surgery on 10/22, replacing the valve which housed the growth & also had to perform a double bypass. There was major damage from the bacteria which needed to be cleaned up. This surgery took approximately eight hours. Michael remains in the hospital for antibiotic treatment every four hours for the bacterial infection. His open heart surgery recovery will take twelve weeks which will be through January 22, 2020. He will not be able to start back to work until then at the earliest. It will take a while until his strength and stamina are back up to par. At that time a doctor will have to evaluate him to determine if he can drive and be in the front seat of a car due to the damage an air bag could cause."

From me his brother, "Mike has a young wife and 3 year old daughter who are having extreme difficulty making ends meet.  Our family needs help while Sensei Mike regains his strength. Any donation is much appreciated. Mike, wife and daughters expenses are 3k per month coupled with a 6 month estimated healing and recovery. He truly needs help. Thank you for considering to help.