❤️ Help My Dad, Lucas, Fight His Way Back
Hi everyone—my name is Giavanna.
I’m Lucas’s daughter, and I’m writing this because… honestly, my dad would never ask for help like this himself. It actually took some convincing to even do this. He’s always been the kind of person who just handles things and takes care of everyone else.
But right now, he needs help—and I know we can’t do this alone.
On Friday, March 20th, my dad was driving home from Norfolk like it was any normal day. It wasn’t. He had a heart attack and was rushed to Roper Hospital in downtown Charleston.
The next few days were honestly a blur for our family. After a lot of testing, doctors told us he needed emergency quintuple bypass surgery—five bypasses—to save his life. On Monday, March 23rd, he went into surgery, and they had to take grafts from his left leg.
That alone would have been enough.
But it didn’t stop there.
After surgery, his heart needed help, so they put him on a balloon pump for 24 hours. He spent days in the ICU, then was moved to the cardiac floor, and we finally started to feel like maybe things were getting better.
Then more things started happening.
He had a lot of pain in his right leg and couldn’t walk without a walker. We also noticed changes in his speech and even trouble eating. It just didn’t feel right.
On the day he was supposed to come home, they did an MRI… and we found out he had actually had multiple strokes in the days before.
That was really hard to hear.
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Where We Are Now
My dad is home now, which we’re really grateful for. But this is just the start of a long recovery.
Over the next 12 months (at a minimum), he’s going to need:
• Physical, occupational, and speech therapy multiple times a week
• A lot of follow-up appointments with different doctors
• Ongoing medication and monitoring
I wish I could say he’s just going to bounce back quickly, but the truth is we’re taking this one day at a time.
Watching your dad go through something like this is… a lot. For all of us.
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The Reality We’re Facing
We do have health insurance (which we’re really thankful for), but even with that, there are still a lot of costs.
Between:
• Hospital bills that aren’t fully covered
• Ongoing therapy and rehab
• Medications and follow-up appointments
• Time away from work and everything it takes to help him recover
We’re expecting at least $20,000–$30,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, and that’s if everything goes as smoothly as possible.
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Why I’m Asking
This is honestly not something I ever thought I’d be doing.
But if you’re able to help at all—whether that’s donating or just sharing this—it would mean so much to my family.
Every little bit helps take some of the stress off so we can focus on helping my dad get better.
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❤️ Thank You
My dad is one of the strongest people I know. He’s stubborn (in a good way), and I know he’s going to fight through this—but this is bigger than anything we’ve dealt with before.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and for any support, prayers, or kindness you can send our way. It really does mean everything to us.
And if by some miracle insurance covers everything and we end up needing less than we raise here, all excess funds will be donated to the American Heart Association to help others going through similar situations.
— Giavanna