Ronni’s Cardiac Surgery Medical Bills

Hi, I’m Ronni’s wife, April. In November of 2020, I brought Ronni into the ER with a racing and irregular heart rate/rhythm. They were able to get his heart back into regular rhythm with some medication and then released him. From that point on, he continued to feel terrible. Fast forward to April of 2021 and again Ronni was admitted to the ER with the same symptoms. This time he spent the night and was then diagnosed with atrial fibrillation. For those of you who know Ronni, you know he takes his health seriously with daily strength training and a whole-foods plant-based diet. This diagnosis was a complete shock to our family. He continued to not feel well over the course of several months. We wanted answers as to why this was happening so we requested a referral to Maine Medical Center in Portland. They did extensive testing but never came up with ‘why’ all of a sudden he developed A-Fib. The cardiologist recommended a few treatments but the best one would be a cardiac ablation surgery. The surgery was then scheduled for April of 2022. It went as planned but the surgeon said this was one of the worst cases he had ever seen on someone that young and healthy. Total recovery can take up to six months. It is now four months post-op and it has been a long haul for Ronni. He was just starting to feel better last month after being weaned off of all the cardiac medications but ended up going into A-Fib last night. He has missed a lot of work throughout this whole process and the medical bills are starting to arrive. The cost of the surgery was $120,000. We have health insurance with an extremely high deductible so it’s been overwhelming to pay what we need to pay on a monthly basis. The other morning I was praying for guidance on how to deal with this and Go Fund Me came to mind. Ronni has had a servant’s heart for the second half of his life. Whether it’s helping someone in recovery or training people for free from our garage gym, he’s always available and willing to help people. He’s put a lot of time and effort into helping people over the years. We don’t ask for help often but we are forever grateful for any help given back to us.

Thank you, April ❤️