Open Heart Surgery For Jonathan

On Wednesday morning October 3rd I had an Transient Ischemic Attack (mini stroke) while at work. I didn’t think much about it and went on with my day. Later that night at the gym Caroline noticed the left side of my face had gone numb. She asked me to smile and there was no response . Without hesitation she rushed me to the Emergency Room where I got treated for a mini stroke. We weren’t sure what was happening let alone why. The doctor was puzzled that a healthy, strong, young man could be having symptoms of stroke, so he had me take an EKG, CAT scan and had blood work done. He also wanted to keep me over night for the next two days. But we don’t have insurance and declined; taking the risk that I would be okay. The next morning October 4th we drove to Tijuana to speak with a cardiologist who gave him an other EKG test following up with an echocardiogram. The echo showed that the heart murmur I was born with was more serious than I ever believed. In fact when I tried to apply for the U.S. Marine Corps they did an echo on me, found I wasn’t suitable for the military and dismissed me; never advising me to seek care. So here we are sitting in an office realizing that me heart is two times thicker than an average healthy heart, over worked and calcified. Thus not allowing blood to properly pump to my whole body, which was the cause for my mini stoke. 

So not only did I have a stoke last night, now we find out that I need to have open heart surgery to get a heart valve transplant. Now remember how we didn’t have insurance to stay at the hospital over night, well we definitely don’t have the money to afford this surgery. And this is an operation that needs to happen. The doctor recommended we make this account to raise money, he said we can’t wait for the surgery to be done and we need to act quick. So I’m asking all my friends and family to help. Honestly even if it is $2 dollars and sharing this post. The average cost of a heart valve replacement is $200,000 in the U.S. but we are debating having to operation done in Tijuana at a fraction of the cost, anywhere between $18,000-$25,000 depending on what the heart surgeon sees. Anything helps, the money raised will be used to pay for the operation, emergency room, medication, doctor visits, testing and after care costs.

We are doing anything and everything to raise and save money, to save my life. Please help spread the word, and if you would help us by donating money we would be eternally grateful. Thank you all.

Feel free to message me with any questions. I'll be posting updates on Instagram @bartusch. Thank you all.