<div>I’m Gabe. I’m 41 years old, and I found out on August 14th that <strong>I need open heart surgery</strong>.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Outside of being overweight most of my life, I’ve never had any serious health issues. This news has been jarring for me and my family, to say the least.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>That said, how we got here is pretty interesting. In the last 6-7 months, I’ve lost about 65 pounds through a combination of medicine, changing my eating habits, and incorporating exercise into my lifestyle.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>One night about 6 weeks ago, I woke up with extreme stomach pain after a week of constant nausea. I headed to the ER. After a full body CT scan, no stomach issues were discovered, but an aortic aneurysm was. A big one.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>An ascending aortic aneurysm - which is what I’ve got, is a bulge in the ascending aorta which is the main artery providing blood to your brain and back. The threshold for surgical intervention on these things is 4.5cm and mine is between 5.2 and 5.5cm depending on the scan.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The danger here is that it could burst basically at any point, and cause complete heart failure. If you are familiar with John Ritter of Three’s Company, Bad Santa, and Problem Child fame, this is how he passed. Luckily mine was caught before the worst happened.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>After my initial ER visit, I visited my doctor and they ordered an echocardiogram. Unfortunately, the aneurysm was just the start. I also have a bicuspid aortic valve with moderate to severe regurgitation - this means instead of 3 leaflets on the valve like most folks, I have 2- blood is going places it shouldn’t because that valve isn’t doing what it should, and this is a huge cause of heart failure as well.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In addition, they found some abnormalities with my mitral valve as well as enlargement in areas of my heart, which, my surgeon says, is never a positive thing.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>And so, a surgery, called an Aortic Root Replacement is what’s gonna happen to Ol’ Gabe. They will replace my aortic valve and the piece of the aorta affected by the aneurysm with some newfangled mechanical bits. Luckily, I’ve always wanted to be part robot.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>My family history is bleak when it comes to heart issues. My mom died at 58, her dad died at 60, my dad made it further but had a few heart attacks himself, dad’s dad did too.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have a 16-month-old daughter and a loving wife that I am not ready to leave. I will fight my ass off and eat nothing but celery and carrots for the rest of my life to make sure of it. Though I will miss my Flamin’ Hot Cheetos.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><strong>I also, like most Americans, have real crappy insurance. That’s why this campaign. </strong>
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I have to admit I have mixed feelings about this. Not thrilled about asking for help this way, but here’s why I am:
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>- I have 80/20 co-insurance with a high deductible and the max out of pocket maximum.
</div>
<div>Needless to say, we weren’t expecting this.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>-Recovery poses other financial impacts as well- I will be recovering far longer than the amount of leave time I have with my employer (I have 2 weeks, then I can apply for short term disability which pays a percentage of my salary). In total, the estimate for recovery is around 8 weeks.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>-I need to make sure my family is taken care of and our bills are covered.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I can’t overstate how much any help at all would be appreciated.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>We are planning surgery for the 2nd week in October to allow me the time to wrap up things at work for our next event. I will share updates and images of my scans and things as we go.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/82134069_1725597594556291_r.jpeg" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/82134069_1725597640448086_r.jpeg" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/82134069_1725597763753259_r.jpeg" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Thank you all for reading, and would love to speak to you all soon.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Love you!
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Gabe
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div><br />
</div><img alt="" media_type="3" src="https://d2g8igdw686xgo.cloudfront.net/82134069_1725894936878032_r.jpeg" width="100%" />
<div><br />
</div>

Shae Williams

Anonymous

steve chiang

Amber Ake

Ryan Hannon

Kenneth Hansen

Jasmine Raghunandan

Concetta Herrera

Madison Luedke

Lisa Montanaro

Laura McCrum

Matthew Miller

Miriam Wagliardo

Hwood G-Man

Len Vlahos

Support Gabe's Life-Saving Open Heart Surgery

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support Gabe's Life-Saving Open Heart Surgery

Still $1,633 to go. Help us build momentum.