Rick Estes pay for expenses due to health issues.

Rick Estes had a massive heart attack in July 2022. He is a high school music teacher, teaching chorus, piano, and special education. He has not been able to return to work and is on a leave of absence (without pay) currently. He has no income during this time which, as you can imagine, is taking a major toll on the family. Rick needs our help to be able to maintain his home so he can focus on his recovery. In addition to the need for living expenses, even with insurance, the family will be facing very large medical bills.

Please consider donating to help Rick with living expenses and the many medical bills that he is facing as his healing journey continues. Rick and his family are blessed to have so many people in their community of support and will be so grateful for anything you can give. He has a long journey ahead and we want him and his family to be taken care of.

Below is Rick’s story:

On July 12, 2022, Rick went to the hospital for a few tests on his heart because doctors were looking for the cause of a small stroke that he had a couple of years ago. While at the hospital, the doctors discovered a small hole in Rick’s heart that had caused that stroke and they did a catherization that found he had two major blockages (one at 80% and one at 90%) in his main artery (known as the widow maker). The doctors placed two stents and sent him to recovery. The next events led to a THIRTY-TWO day stay in the hospital, much of it in Cardiac Intensive Care. After the stents were placed, a thrombus formed, and Rick had a massive heart attack that essentially killed a whole portion of Rick’s heart. The doctors were able to go back in and place two more stents in the same artery. Again, he went to recovery in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit. He was stable and they sent Janice home for the night only to call 2 hours later and tell her to return because he had taken a turn and may not make it through the night. Rick was in severe heart failure. Rick spent the next 11 days in a medically induced coma. During that time, he had a heart pump placed to do most of the work of his heart so it could rest and heal, as well as a pericardial drain to assist in draining blood that was pooling around his heart. Also, during that time, his other organs started failing. He was on a ventilator for respiratory failure, continuous dialysis for kidney failure, he got pneumonia while in the coma, and had two chest tubes placed for drainage. There were many days of uncertainty, but we believe that God is not through with Rick and has a plan for him to be with us for much longer! After 11 days in a coma, he was able to awaken and start his healing journey. From being in the coma, he had a swallowing disorder but was able to begin to eat and drink a regular diet again after a week of therapy. As he has been participating in physical therapy and occupational therapy, Rick’s left side is not recovering in the same way as his right, so there is a strong suspicion that he had another stroke while in his coma as well. Rick is still attending follow up appointments and so far, has confirmed that he had an eye stroke that has caused a permanent loss of the top half of the vision in his left eye. He will be seeing a neurologist soon to determine if he had another full stroke and what other kinds of neurological damage will be permanent. Currently, he is using a walker to get around and his left hand still is not fully functional. And of course, he is still very tired much of the time, but he is getting stronger day by day. Because his heart function is so low, he is currently wearing what is called a Life Vest 24 hours a day. It is a wearable defibrillator that monitors his heart rhythms and is on the ready in the even he needs to be shocked back into rhythm. (Hoping that can come off after some follow up tests in October!) In two weeks, he will be transitioning from home health to outpatient cardiac rehabilitation at the hospital.