Never would I expect to be having to do this, but I would do anything for my dad. My dad would never ask for help himself, so I am. This outreach is to help my family temporarily get through the hardest time of our lives. My dad has always taken pride in providing and taking care of his family, and we have always been his top priority. This event has changed the direction of our family unit; now we must provide for him. We will be the strong foundation for him, just as he has done for us. I am heartbroken by this situation, as he is my best friend. The feeling of being helpless makes it impossible to get through a day without being reminded that my dad is not home.

On February 4th, it was just a normal day. I was preparing to go into work for my shift as I always do. My dad works from home; he has an office in our basement. He unexpectedly came upstairs in a significant amount of pain in his neck and chest area. I instantly went into fight or flight mode. Of course, since my dad values everyone else before himself, he did not want to call an ambulance. He did not want me calling and worrying people, and the main concern was being unable to afford the medical bill just for the ambulance ride as well as the hospital visit (we had no idea how bad it would get). After being redirected from our local hospital, he was taken by ambulance to an ER in Pennsylvania 40 minutes away. Testing was done ruling out a heart attack, then one final scan was done.

What started out as a complication with his blood pressure rapidly turned into life or death. The doctor informed us of a 5cm Aortic Aneurysm 

in his chest that needed IMMEDIATE action, 100% fatal if untreated, and 90% of people drop dead before getting help for it. Of course, my dad’s aneurysm was 1cm away from killing him. Our whole lives changed in a split second. They rushed my best friend out of his room to begin preparing him for the critical emergency surgery that had to be performed. Everything was happening so quickly that before we knew it, the strongest member of our family was ripped away from us. He was immediately airlifted to a PA medical center 2 hours away from our home to perform lifesaving emergency open-heart surgery. We said our goodbyes to him, all while secretly preparing for the possibility of a life without him. I am only 21 years old, and my brother 23; how would we possibly be able to go through this life without the man who raised us?

He has been in the HVIC unit for 2 weeks, and this is all while having no health insurance to cover any of this. The surgery has saved his life, but now we are left with unemployment for several weeks/months recuperating without his income. To those of you who have read this, thank you so much. Any donation is GREATLY appreciated. The money that is being raised will be used for our outstanding medical bills, airlifting and ambulance transportation, as well as helping us keep the roof over our heads. Please be sure to value time with your loved ones as life can take the most unexpected drastic turns.