Hello to all our friends and family, my name is Tommy Dirk, and I am writing this to help our dad, Jim Dirk.

You may all know our dad by many names…Coach, teammate, coworker, friend or family. But no matter how you know Jim, or what name you call him, we all know what a special, loyal human he is! Dad gives his right arm to whoever needs it, and cares for people to a fault. It is because of our love for him, I am asking for your support as he gets through a very traumatic month, onto the next two months of healing and getting stronger.

For those who do not know, on 5/17/23, Dad went to the ER with terrible abdominal pain. After testing, he was diagnosed with a very angry gallbladder, requiring emergent removal that same day. According to the surgeon, the surgery was a success and he would most likely be discharged the next day. However, the next day came and he was experiencing complications, turning him jaundice and putting him in excruciating pain. Many labs and radiology tests later, the doctors decided he needed an ERCP to remove another stone blocking his duct to the liver. Again, we were told this went well and he was discharged Sunday, May 21, feeling as well as could be expected from these two procedures.

As the week went on, Jim was having increased pain, fever, and even his skin was turning red and hot. Mom brought him back to the ER early Saturday morning, 5/27/23. Again, after many labs and a Cat Scan, the devastating news came back that he had a perforated Duodenum (small intestine), and was in Acute Kidney Failure! Shocked and scared at learning these new life-threatening diagnoses, the question at that time was how exactly could this happen to a very healthy 49 year old?! In many roundabout discussions, it seems, again life -threatening complications from the second procedure a week earlier.

Dad, at this point was very, very ill, and continued to decline in front of our eyes. If I am being honest, there was a few moments I didn’t think he would make it through…Mom was on the phone with all the doctors she could, getting all the information she could to help our dad. After a handful of doctors, including surgeons, nephrologists, primary and infectious disease, the first point of matter was to do a STAT dialysis to save his kidneys. He was sent for a port placement for dialysis, and it was on after that.

Starting the evening of the second ER visit, my dad went through hell. The only saving grace was he was incoherent, not speaking and very confused, saving him from remembering the severe pain he was actually in. Our family watched as he got sicker and sicker, requiring so many different treatments, at all times of the day. Mom never left his side, and I was there to support them as well as my sister Erica, my brother-in-law Brandon, and Jillian, my girlfriend. Our little brother, Jason, who is 11 spent almost the 2 weeks at the neighbors and barely saw any of us … It was heart breaking got see my strong dad so sick and fragile, we prayed every day to get him back. After 9 days in bed, barely able to move, he finally took a step again, basically learning how to walk for a second time.

The infection in his abdomen was large and severe, and didn’t want to respond to the massive antibiotics he was getting by IV, or the double drains that were put in the right side of his belly to drain the fluid. After many discussions, even arguments with the doctors, if was finally decided the only option left was to do an Exploratory Laparotomy surgery to open him up, clean the infection, check all his organs and place another drain. This was our last resort as we were told there were even more risks to this surgery. Mom and dad decided to proceed, that the pros outweighed the cons at this point, we needed Dad healthy!

On Wednesday, 6/7, Dad underwent his last surgery, and is left with a 6 ½ Inch incision and a new drain coming from his abdominal cavity. The surgeon felt confident that he was able to clean the infection out and no new leaks were seen, which was very promising news! And almost immediately his numbers all started improving and going in the right direction. We were told he would need IV antibiotics daily for a minimum of 4 weeks after he returned home, so they placed a permanent PICC line in his right arm. And finally after:

*18 days ( not counting the initial gallbladder surgery and 4 day safter that), 3 Cat Scans, 1 Ultrasound kidneys,1 Platelet transfusion, 3 bladder catheterizations, 1 Vac Cath for dialysis, 4 Stat dialysis treatments for 3 hours each, 2 abdominal drain placement procedures, 7 blood transfusions, 1 Upper GI test, 1 MRI , 1 Nuclear medicine tests, 3 IVs, 1 midline IV access, a billion different antibiotics and IV pain medications, 1 Exploratory Laparotomy, 1 New abdominal drain and a PICC line, and countless labs draws and different fluids and medications…

He was able to come home Monday evening!

But his journey isn’t over… Dad is still very weak and is learning to move and walk again. As mentioned before, he needs to go to the Infectious Disease clinic for antibiotic infusions every day. He now has a multitude of medications to take. A home health nurse was ordered to empty his drain and watch the wound sites. There are many doctors’ appointments, repeat Cat Scans and labwork that will be taking place over the next couple of months.

Whether it is Dad, Jim or Jimmy, his road to recovery is long and tiring. He will be out of work for 3 months, placing a significant financial strain on my parents during this time. The cost of medicines, therapies, doctors’ visits and testing alone will add to the normal day to day living costs we all have.

Many, many of you have asked what you can do to help, and the outreach of support has been incredible. My sister and I ask, if you are so inclined to help, to please support my Dad through this Go Fund ME to get him though this terrible situation and on his feet again!

From the bottom of all the Dirk’s hearts, and on behalf of my parents, Jim and Lisa, we say thank you and love you all! We are blessed to have such a wonderful support system and hope you all know how truly appreciative we are!