At 36 years old, we were not prepared for this news. Recently, from a routine CT scan to rule out other problems for the physical therapy I have been undergoing, severe blockage was discovered in the heart. Fast forward to next week, an angiogram test completed at Allina Health Cardiac Surgery Center in St. Paul on Wednesday, April 15th, confirmed that severe blockage was discovered, potentially saving me from having a widow-maker.

From the clinic notes on the visit, the following were discovered:

DIAGNOSTIC - CORONARY

Coronary artery bypass surgery is scheduled for Thursday, April 30th @ 7am with the United Hospital Cardiac Surgery Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

Due to the quick turnaround from CT scan to open heart surgery in less than 2 weeks apart from each other, we were not prepared for this financially. Due to the job of driving for the Walmart private fleet, I cannot receive a DOT medical card allowing me to operate commercially until full recovery, which is approximately 12 weeks with further recovery per DOT/FMCSA requirements before completing an exam.

While the best thing for me to do is focus on healing and recovery along with the multitude of appointments and cardiac rehab ahead of me, I would like to ensure my family is without financial worry while I cannot work.

All funds received will go directly to household bills, ensuring food is on the table for our family, and any medical bills not covered by my insurance. Any help received will be of great appreciation to ensure a successful recovery.

Please allow me to thank everyone in advance for any provided relief you can provide as words cannot explain how grateful I am. Remember to listen to your body and get checked if something does not feel right.

HOW WE GOT HERE – FULL STORY

Roughly 2 summers ago in 2024, while working as an over-the-road flatbed driver, I had a medical event taking place in Pueblo, CO, where I went to urgent care and was told everything checked out and was pectoral muscle strain.

After this visit, everything seemed normal and had some minor problems with chest and back pain, but it always went away quickly in under 5 minutes.

While I continued to work as normal, I noticed the symptoms coming on more frequently and being told I was most likely muscular, I went to Summit Orthopedic Urgent Care for verification.

During their evaluation, they confirmed the possibility of having problems with my neck causing chest, arm, and back pains. There was some X-ray imaging completed and a request for an MRI. After requesting the MRI, it was originally denied by insurance due to attempts at physical therapy or chiropractic be tried first.

Continuing forward, I decided to speak with my primary again and consider other options as well. Referral for physical therapy took place and I completed the required 8 weeks for insurance. During this time, I also completed a stress test to rule out cardiac problems back in September of 2025. The results of this test did not show any issues, and I was able to recreate the symptoms during physical activity, and the readings did not show any problems. With these results in hand, an MRI was approved and completed and came back negative for findings on my neck.

After these findings, we found it an attempt to move forward with physical therapy for my shoulder and chest on a weekly basis. For nearly 4 months, I attended physical therapy and no changes seemed to be happening, and I started thinking negatively and becoming quite depressed from no progress.

Since I was not feeling positive about my progress, I went in for yet another follow-up with my primary and we decided to rule out lung cancer with a chest CT. Well, as you can see, the results found were negative for lung cancer but positive for severe coronary calcification. This CT was performed on April 8th.

From this finding, as you can see, rapid succession of appointments took place from meeting with a cardiologist to having an angiogram ordered to now having completed most of my pre-op appointments and onto bypass surgery next Thursday, April 30th.

During these last couple of years, I kept thinking to myself it wasn’t the worst and to push through the pain and everything will be fine. Then all of a sudden realizing a widow-maker heart attack is just one bad day from happening.

Please, for my one request to everyone out there. Do better than I did. Take care of your body as you only get one and reach out when something does not feel right. It took a lot of support from my family and friends to convince me to go for further testing and I am glad that I have so I can be around and continue to love and support all my wonderful friends but especially my wife Bethany and our two beautiful children, Matthew and Analyn.

Again, please allow me to thank you for any support you can provide and know we are forever grateful for the help!