Support Tim Bickel's Heart Recovery Journey

Hello! My name is Cassandra. I'm doing this fundraiser for my Dad, Tim Bickel. If you have been lucky enough to meet my dad, you'd know he is one of the greatest guys you'd ever meet! It doesn't matter what is going on with him; he looks on the bright side of things and always has a smile on his face. My dad is not the type of guy to ask for help and always says, "I will figure it out," and he always has. My dad is a member of the Cooperstown Evangelistic Tabernacle. If you ever went to their Bethlehem village, I'm sure you've seen my dad! He would have been one of the ones parking you with a smile on his face no matter what the weather was. My dad was also a big part of building the village. He is the kind of guy that would give you his coat if you are cold and he'd freeze. The kind of dad that would stand behind you no matter what! Now it is my turn to have his back and try to help with some of his worries and things he needs done to get home.

On Thursday, August 29th, 2024, my dad had a massive heart attack in the local ER. He was life-flighted to Hamot that night and was in a heart cath 2 hours later. We found out that night his heart was very damaged and he would have an open heart bypass the following day. That surgery didn't happen. We were told that his heart is too weak for surgery and they wanted to do another surgery to take the Impella pump from his leg to his chest till his heart gets stronger. That surgery happened Friday the 30th. Ever since that surgery, my dad has had several complications. He has developed a huge hematoma in his arm from the blood vessels that were cut, causing severe swelling in his right arm. He says his arm is now numb. We are hopeful that once the swelling goes down, he will feel his arm again. His kidneys have also taken a hit from the heart attack, which is now preventing the surgery from happening. As of right now, we have no surgery date. Once he has surgery, he will go to a rehab center for who knows how long.

My mom is trying to stay in Erie to stay close to my dad. I'd like to take the burden off of her with this as well and make the trips less stressful on her and myself trying to go back and forth. Help with the medical bills that will be coming in, a ramp for the house to get my dad in, and redo his bathroom so he has a shower on the first level since he won't be able to get into a tub when he comes home.