Shawn Weiss is my brother-in-law, and he’s always been the kind of person who puts others first, even when he’s not feeling well himself. The day after his 39th birthday (nearly 20 years ago), Shawn suffered his first heart attack, which led to open heart surgery and left a large part of his heart damaged. He was told at the time that he would need a heart transplant to survive, but because he didn’t have insurance then and now only has Medicare, he’s never been on the transplant list. Since then, Shawn has had seven stents placed and now lives with a pacemaker defibrillator.

This past Christmas, Shawn started feeling especially unwell. Despite seeing his cardiologist and primary doctors several times, his concerns were brushed aside. It wasn’t until Jenni, his wife, insisted on taking him to the emergency room that they discovered he was in active kidney failure, with only about 10% kidney function. His calcium levels were dangerously high, and his heart troponins were elevated. He was admitted to the ICU that night. While his calcium levels have improved and he’s out of the ICU, Shawn is still in the hospital with no discharge date as doctors continue to run tests and hope his kidney function will improve.

Right now, Shawn and Jenni are facing a mountain of stress—not just from his health, but from the bills piling up. Jenni has already missed a week of work to be by his side, and their rent, utilities, car payment, and food costs are due. With Shawn on Social Security Disability and Medicare not covering all his care, every day brings new financial worries. If you know Shawn, you know he never asks for help—he’s always the helper. If he didn’t have to worry about Jenni and the bills, it would mean so much for his ability to rest and focus on recovering from kidney failure. Any support you can give would be an incredible blessing for them right now. Thank you for caring about Shawn and Jenni during this difficult time.