Support Austin's Life-Saving Surgery Journey

Hi, this story below is about my nephew Austin Hillhouse. It is hard to watch someone go through this. I want to help raise money to help pay for the expenses with medical and travel. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated by our family.

LIFE UPDATE

For the past year, I have been struggling with a life-threatening condition called Chronic Thromboembolic Pulmonary Hypertension, or known as CTEPH for short. Basically, blood clots form in the arteries of my lungs and cause extremely high blood pressure in my heart. If not treated, CTEPH would eventually cause my heart to stop working.

CTEPH has affected my life in many ways, but the main thing that it does is it makes it impossible to breathe. From making my walk from my car to my office feel like a marathon to simply taking a shower and changing my clothes feeling like a workout. Not only does CTEPH take a toll physically, but it also takes a toll on me mentally. It has made life so much harder and has affected my mood and tendencies and has completely changed my life.

About a year ago, I noticed I was struggling to breathe. I didn’t know what was going on, but I knew something was wrong. I was naive in thinking that I was just out of shape and that my breathing would fix itself. I convinced myself that I’m young and healthy and that my breathing would come back to normal, but it never did. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t know that I was struggling with CTEPH. I’m trying my best to navigate and persevere through this chapter of life. It has been a struggle, to say the least.

Fortunately, there is a cure for CTEPH. But it is through open-heart surgery. It feels like I’m between a rock and a hard place. The idea of this surgery has made me uneasy and apprehensive. However, it is the only way to cure CTEPH. This surgery should be the final stop in this process to heal me. Even though it’s a very invasive surgery, this surgery is a light at the end of a long and dark tunnel.

There are only a handful of places in the United States that even offer this surgery. I’m looking to get it done at UCSD Medical in San Diego. It is the most successful and most advanced program in the world at doing this type of operation. Currently, I believe the surgery will be in October, but things might change. I can’t wait to get back to 100 percent healthy again. I have never prayed for an easy life but for the strength to endure a hard one.