Hi, I’m Cassi and I’m starting this fundraiser for my dad. He was my hero growing up. Always making us laugh at the dinner table. And making sure we had everything we could want or need.

He’s spent his whole life working hard to make sure of that. That’s just who he is.

Earlier this month on May 2nd, I took him to the hospital with his oxygen saturation at 60%. He hard a hard time breathing while simply sitting, and was reluctant to go because my mom was still recovering from a hip replacement. It took some convincing but, thankfully, he got in the car and we went to the ER.

His oxygen was so low when we arrived, the nurses thought the machine was broken. He was admitted immediately, and given 11 liters of O2, they did blood tests, asked him a lot of questions. It was then we realized it was worse than we thought. This quick intervention was the start of a very slow recovery that is still in progress.

In the first few days we found out he had reached Stage 4 COPD, had pneumonia, was septic and had a collapsed lung. It was the scariest few days for all of us, especially our mom, who was still home recovering and separated from her love of 43 years.

We all held on tight while my dad fought to get better. He’s not out of the woods yet and will never be. But he’s been doing everything the doctors tell him, including his breathing exercises and PT.

His collapsed lung has resolved, his O2 has been staying above 90% and even hit 100 this morning. He still needs oxygen and his lungs are good as they ever will be. We’re all so happy to see how well he’s doing.

But the medical bills and living expenses keep coming and will continue piling on. He is no longer able to work, he will most likely need oxygen for the rest of his life, on top of doctor’s visits and general living expenses.

We’re humbly asking friends and family and anyone this resonates with for help. If you can’t donate we understand, even sharing this out would be greatly appreciated.