Support Michael's Critical Medical Recovery

Hi family and friends,

I'm starting this GoFundMe for my brother Michael, whom many of you know is a private person. He has been in the hospital for a little over two weeks.

Initially, he was sick with a cold/flu that progressively worsened over 10 days. He eventually complained of severe abdominal pain to my mom, who then reached out to his uncle to check up on him. His uncle asked him a series of questions before taking him to the urgent care, where they suggested he go to the emergency room. After a few tests, he was then taken by ambulance to the ICU at St. Luke's for a perforated bowel along with a peritoneal infection on April 21st.

The treatment plan called for draining multiple abdominal abscesses, as well as antibiotics. After about a week, it looked like he was on his way to recovery as he had progressed to eating solid food and walking. Unfortunately, the doctors then discovered another abscess via CT scan, and he had a procedure to have another drain placed.

That day, after the drain placement procedure, he said he felt excruciating pain after he arrived back to his room. Michael sat in his room sweating profusely as his heart rate climbed above 170 bpm. The nurses responded to his room and began running tests. Michael soon went into cardiac arrest, and when the pain was too much, he fainted. A code blue was called, and the hospital staff rushed him to the operating room and put him on a ventilator. Apparently, during the drainage procedure, one of his arteries was "nicked" without any awareness from the medical staff.

Three hours of life-saving surgery on Wednesday, April 30 to revive Michael and remove the blood that flooded his thoracic cavity, as well as stop the bleeding. According to Michael, he was in such great pain that he thought he'd died.

It has been a little over a week since that fateful day. He's currently back on a solid diet and continuing to recover. He's also had a few physical therapy sessions and seems to be in good spirits.

We worry that the medical bills from the ICU will be astronomical and the cost of his post-recovery will be quite a bit as well.

Anything you can help to donate towards my brother will be a great help and much appreciated.

Thank you in advance and let's continue to pray that Michael is on the road to a speedy recovery.