I am setting up this go fund me on behalf of my sister, and brother and law, Slim and Jenny.

He is known to his family as a father, significant other, brother, son, and friend and someone would do anything for anybody.

The reason we are suddenly reaching out is that slim recently experienced a medical emergency. On April 30th, 2026 after not feeling like himself he checked into the emergency room in Albert Lea. There they did many tests including imaging, labs, ECG, etc.

What was supposed to be as we hoped an in and out ER visit; turned into a nightmare. He was told that the cause of his symptoms was that he was actively having a heart attack. This led to immediate transfer to Mankato hospital as Rochester was full to receive the level of care that he needed. Once he arrive to Mankato they did an ultrasound showing that he had 4 arteries in his heart that were blocked. The LAD artery aka “the widow maker” was 99% blocked. This artery is the main artery that keeps your heart functioning. The second artery was blocked at 96%, the third was blocked at 80% and the fourth was 40%.

Next step was to do an angiogram and to also do an angioplasty to place stents. Unfortunately they were unable to proceed with angioplasty because the stents would not have worked. Mankato recommended immediate transfer to Rochester to undergo open heart surgery for a bypass.

On Friday May 1st, 2026 Slim was transferred to Rochester. His Cardic team’s priority was to stabilize Slim and figure out next steps. On top of finding out he had a heart attack, Rochester enlightened us that Slim also has uncontrolled Type 2 Diabetes, and COPD/Emphysema. This is requiring a significant diet change coming from both the cardiac side and the diabetes side.

They did more labs, imaging, ultrasounds on legs to see if his arteries in his legs were able to be used for his bypass. They came up with a plan to do surgery first thing Monday morning on May 4th, 2026.

On Monday May 4th, Slim went back for surgery at 630am. The surgery was anticipated to be 6-10 hours. He was out of surgery around 4pm and in recovery. They did end up needing to do a double bypass using an artery from his chest, and one from his leg.

After surgery he was placed in the ICU as this is protocol. Slim had some complications with his body temperature staying where it needed to be and his oxygen levels were down lower than they wanted.

As of now, Slim is in a significant amount of pain. They are trying to manage his pain appropriately, but as you can imagine, this will not be a painless journey.

They are about an hour from home, weeks of recovery in the hospital, months of recovery at home and lots of expenses so his immediate family can stay by his side. Slim will need a 24/7 caregiver for the next few months when he goes home.

Funds will be used for food for Jenny, gas to get to and from the hospital + appointments, medications, medical bills, parking ramp expenses, and household bills (just bought a new house in April).

We are asking for your support—whether through a donation, sharing this page, or lifting Slim and his family up in prayer. Every contribution, no matter the size, will help ease the financial burden so the family can focus on what matters most: being there for Slim.

We want to be able to help lift the financial burden off them as bills will accumulate without both of them working.

With all that said, he and his family are already so grateful for the love and outpouring support he has received.