Stand by the Nelsons: ♡Heartfelt Support♡

This is Eddie Nelson. He's a Lieutenant at Bristol, TN Police Department and has been a LEO, Paramedic, and Firefighter, serving others in some form or capacity for over 30 years.

He has been married to his wife, April, for 24 years, and they have a 16-year-old son, Connor.

Here's his story...

Eddie hadn't felt like himself for several days, and April was finally able to convince him to make a doctor's appointment, which he reluctantly did.

At that very appointment, he was told that there were some "concerning changes" in his EKG compared to the one done at his last yearly physical.

Thank the Good Lord Above that April convinced him to go...

From that point, life has now forever changed for him and their family by the events that followed.

He was taken by ambulance to Bristol Regional Medical Center, and that's where this nightmare started. At BRMC, he was told he had recently had a heart attack and had several severe heart blockages, and he would need immediate medical intervention.

What started out as a heart cath to put in some stents turned into a cardiovascular doctor coming out to the surgery waiting area telling April that they could NOT do the stents. His condition had deteriorated during the cath to the point that they stopped the catheterization and had to place an aortic pump into his heart. He then proceeded to say Eddie was in critical condition and would need to be transferred to Holston Valley to prepare for open-heart surgery that evening or the next morning.

Fast forward, he ended up with a quintuple (5) heart bypass surgery on Feb 17th, which was done at Holston Valley.

He has had multiple complications, and his condition was rapidly digressing after the quintuple bypass. When I say multiple, it has been A LOT!

He was not improving, and eventually, April made the BEST DECISION SHE COULD HAVE, and that was to have him moved out of Ballad/Holston Valley.

Getting to that point and having to make that decision was very stressful for April, but it was THE ABSOLUTE BEST CHOICE for him.

The Lord put the right people in the right places to make the transfer from Ballad to TriStar Centennial Hospital in Nashville. There is no doubt, The Lord has had His hand in this from day one for Eddie to have survived what was explained as a fragile and extremely critical condition.

At that point, April and Connor had been at his bedside or sitting in an ICU waiting room all day long "just in case" and to be able to go in for a precious few minutes to see him during visiting hours, even though he was sedated and unconscious most of the time.

As you can imagine, April hasn't been able to work for the majority of this time, and she is now traveling back and forth to Nashville. Connor is in high school and trying to keep up while wanting to be with his dad, too.

Obviously, it will be some time before Eddie will be able to return to work, and life expenses don't wait.

This GoFundMe account will help them with whatever their needs may be because he has come so far, but he still has much farther to go.

His condition has changed so much and is changing daily. It's like a roller coaster with some ups and some downs, daily.

There have been a lot of small steps forward and some big steps backward, but he's slowly making progress in the right direction, finally.

As LEOs and first responders, they are the ones who are called upon to respond to help others in their time of need or crisis.

This time, it's our LEO and his family who are in need of your prayers, kindness, friendship, and love. Anything that you feel compelled to donate will be an additional blessing to them as his healing will take time. He has already been in 3 different hospitals, his chest opened twice, a special ambulance with an accompanying ICU nurse that had to travel with him to Nashville, not to mention all the other devices and aortic pumps, plus the 30 days in ICU at 3 hospitals, and the continued medical care and a stay in a rehabilitation hospital when he becomes stable enough to begin that journey. The foreseeable future will be in an inpatient setting, and I can't even begin to imagine what their part of the medical expenses are going to be.

To everyone who has read this to this point, thank you for caring enough and showing love to Eddie, April, and Connor. There have been so many friends, family, co-workers, nurses, medical teams, and even complete strangers (who are now friends) that have reached out already, that I have no doubt the Nelsons are well-loved and prayed for.

If you can do nothing but lift them up in prayer, they can use all of them, and I thank you, and I know they will thank you too. April has been overwhelmed with all the kindness, generosity, and love that has been shared with them.

She is grateful for everything that has already been done, for what is being done now, and what will be done by The ONE Who Can!

Thank you so much for anything and everything♡

Monica S.

Under His Wings~Psalm 91v4