Support Chris's Cardiac Journey

A message from Laurel:

”Life changes quickly. If you told us on December 15th that we were going to be fighting for Chris' life over the next six months, we would have thought you were crazy. Everything changed for the Thomas family on Christmas Eve. Chris had a cardiac arrest on Christmas Day. Over the next month in Northwestern Medical Center, we were told that he had terminal heart failure because of a congenital defect he never knew about. The only thing to do is open heart surgery to place a heart pump (called an LVAD) on February 13th and then work towards a heart transplant in the future. The suddenness and severity of this situation have been emotionally taxing on his family and friends but especially hard on Chris.

I have read many GoFundMe posts before, but I have never been the one asking people to help my family. When our daughter started a GoFundMe for us at the beginning of January, we had no idea the depth of Chris' illness. We are incredibly thankful for the generosity of those who donated the nine thousand dollars. We have good insurance, but we will owe approximately 18K out of pocket for his care at Northwestern. I have great support from my employer, United Energy Workers Healthcare, but I am on leave for the next two months to help him recover from this serious surgery. Overall, Chris will be in the hospital and rehab for 2-3 more months, and some expenses were unforeseen, like dog walkers, food when we are at the hospital, parking fees, etc. These are on top of our regular expenses that do not stop when we are in the hospital.

We understand and appreciate your thoughts and prayers if you cannot donate. If you can donate, we are thankful for your support”