Saturday, November 9th started as a fun night at the movies for Mac. He was enjoying a late show when his fiancee had a low blood sugar attack. Mac sprung into action immediately, racing to get her the sugar she needed to save her life. He saved her life, but in the process exerted himself so much that he ended up coughing up a huge blood clot.

It turns out that Mac has a food allergy. Not exactly something that you would think could be life-threatening. But unfortunately for Mac, his food allergy was undiagnosed. He had no idea. And whatever he's allergic to, he eats regularly enough that his esophagus is completely ravaged. Have you ever swallowed a corn chip and had it scrape its way down your neck? Well, your esophagus lining is designed to slough off when that happens to protect you. It does the same thing when you eat something that you are allergic to. Mac's esophagus lining had gotten really thin because of his allergic reaction, and when he saved his fiancee's life, that was just enough stress, that a strong cough ended up tearing two serious gashes in his esophagus. One of them was spurting blood. He's your typical stoic guy; he doesn't complain much.  He felt nothing. So he went to bed and unbeknownst to him, he bled internally all night. By the morning he was weak from blood loss. He tried to walk and immediately realized that something was gravely wrong. He asked his fiancee to take him to the doctor immediately. On the way to the hospital she genuinely believed that he had died. It was heartbreaking. By the time he got to Kaiser hospital in Santa Rosa, his blood pressure was dropping because of his blood loss. His heart was racing just to keep him alive. They gave him a blood transfusion, operated, and saved his life. The medical team at Kaiser quickly found two 5cm gashes and the spurting blood vessel in Mac's esophagus and stopped the bleeding. He was transferred to the ICU because of the high likelihood of it opening up again.

He's stable now and recovering, but he's still in the hospital. We're starting this go fund me for him because we know how quickly those unexpected expenses from a medical emergency like this are coming. Please help him with his recovery. 

Mac was born with a heart defect that caused him to have open-heart surgery two years ago. He's the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off his back to help not just a friend but a stranger. He's still recovering financially from open-heart surgery two years ago, and now this. If you can help him that would be great and would help show him how we are all family in Sonoma County. During the fires, we all kept seeing instances of Sonoma County banding together and helping each other get through this. Please continue that. Mac's a good guy, let's show him some love and help him recover. Sonoma County's rooting for you Mac!