Vinny "A Heart of Gold"
Donation protected
On 6/19/18 Vin went to the ER because he was having trouble breathing. Within minutes he stopped breathing, was intubated attached to a ventilator and his heart stopped for 14 minutes. His wife Alison was away in Chicago at a convention. She was on the phone with him until he got to the hospital then he told her he would call her back. She kept calling his cell but he wouldn't answer. She called the ER to find out what was going on and the ER doctor told her to get to the hospital now because he was very sick, on life support and they had to do CPR for 14 minutes to get a beat back. She sent her mom and brother to the hospital to be at his side till she was able to get there. The doctor told her mom there was no hope, he was dying, organs were shutting down, numbers were getting worse and he was going to have another cardiac arrest. He said he has a DNR and his mother in law was crying and yelling at him that he had to save him because her daughter was on her way back. The doctor said Vin had brain damage, he is not responsive, he is in the deepest part of the darkest woods and he's not getting out. She told the doctor that he had no proof that he was brain damaged and you do everything possible because she will not watch him die. He said the team has done everything they could over the past few hours and it was getting worse. Then a doctor came in and said I don't think he's in organ failure I think he is having a reaction to the paralytic that was given earlier when they intubated him. He said try this new medicine, it just came out and we have nothing to lose. If it is a reaction then it will reverse it. As soon as it was injected into his IV within a minute he started to move his arms, legs, pupils dilated, he got agitated and went to pull the tube out of his throat. The doctors said it was a miracle and they couldn't believe what they saw. If it wasn't for that doctor whom was one of God's angels Vin would've died. It was truly a miracle. From that point they sedated him, called a helicopter and transported him 4 hours away to Florida Hospital in Orlando. He has been there a month, had open heart surgery where they implanted a pump called an LVAD that is doing all the work for his heart. The device has a cable that comes out of his stomach, attached to a control pad and 2 portable batteries weighing 5 pounds each that last for 14 hours. When he is not on battery he will be plugged into the wall through another device. Vin has to live with this until the heart becomes available. This is considered the bridge to transplant. The device alone cost $674K and the entire surgery was close to $1M. The next surgery will be a heart transplant hopefully within the next 6 months.
Vin grew up a normal kid who loved baseball more than anything in his life. He started with little league and it became his passion. He pitched a perfect game at Tottenville High School where he got his nickname the "hefty lefty". His dream was to be a pitcher for the Yankees and he would've been if it wasn't for his heart problem. The scouts were looking at him, had scholarships, even had a letter from the Dodgers and when he was sent for a physical he got the devastating news. The doctor told him there was a problem with his heart called hypotropic cardiomyopathy. He can live a normal life but the only thing he couldn't do was play competitive sports. This is the disease that causes sudden death especially in young adults in their teens. The kids that you hear about that just drop dead on the field whether it's football, soccer, baseball, basketball.... Vin's dreams were shattered, lost the scholarships, had no desire to do anything else with his life. The one thing that he knew he was that good at, that he could do better than anyone was taken away because of his heart. At age 27 Vin collapsed at Alison's parents house waiting for his friends to pick him up to go to his best friends bachelor party. He went into ventricular tachycardia where his heart beat was up to 280 beats per minute. The nurse at the hospital told him "you are so lucky to be alive because you should be pushing daisies right now". After 2 weeks in the hospital he had surgery and got a defribillator implanted in his chest.
Vin went on to marry Alison and have 3 wonderful kids. All 3 kids carry the gene for this heart condition and unfortunately his oldest son Nick was diagnosed with it in the fall of 2017 when he started having chest pain, went to the ER and he was transferred to Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital 2 hours away from home. Nick's diagnosis ultimately saved his dad's life because when the specialist reviewed Vin's medical records she knew right away he was not being diagnosed and treated correctly and she told Alison and Nick this during a follow up visit. Nick's doctor introduced them to an advanced heart failure doctor who met with Vin right away and told him you will need a transplant in the future but you will never get a heart being that heavy so you have to have bariatric surgery immediately. Vin did everything he was told to do, dropped over 100 pounds to date, took all the new meds, exercising but didn't know he was filling up with fluid which was slowly happening and ultimately almost killed him.
Vinny is on disability and Alison is currently not working since she is taking care of him. Your donation is greatly appreciated!
Vin grew up a normal kid who loved baseball more than anything in his life. He started with little league and it became his passion. He pitched a perfect game at Tottenville High School where he got his nickname the "hefty lefty". His dream was to be a pitcher for the Yankees and he would've been if it wasn't for his heart problem. The scouts were looking at him, had scholarships, even had a letter from the Dodgers and when he was sent for a physical he got the devastating news. The doctor told him there was a problem with his heart called hypotropic cardiomyopathy. He can live a normal life but the only thing he couldn't do was play competitive sports. This is the disease that causes sudden death especially in young adults in their teens. The kids that you hear about that just drop dead on the field whether it's football, soccer, baseball, basketball.... Vin's dreams were shattered, lost the scholarships, had no desire to do anything else with his life. The one thing that he knew he was that good at, that he could do better than anyone was taken away because of his heart. At age 27 Vin collapsed at Alison's parents house waiting for his friends to pick him up to go to his best friends bachelor party. He went into ventricular tachycardia where his heart beat was up to 280 beats per minute. The nurse at the hospital told him "you are so lucky to be alive because you should be pushing daisies right now". After 2 weeks in the hospital he had surgery and got a defribillator implanted in his chest.
Vin went on to marry Alison and have 3 wonderful kids. All 3 kids carry the gene for this heart condition and unfortunately his oldest son Nick was diagnosed with it in the fall of 2017 when he started having chest pain, went to the ER and he was transferred to Joe Dimaggio Children's Hospital 2 hours away from home. Nick's diagnosis ultimately saved his dad's life because when the specialist reviewed Vin's medical records she knew right away he was not being diagnosed and treated correctly and she told Alison and Nick this during a follow up visit. Nick's doctor introduced them to an advanced heart failure doctor who met with Vin right away and told him you will need a transplant in the future but you will never get a heart being that heavy so you have to have bariatric surgery immediately. Vin did everything he was told to do, dropped over 100 pounds to date, took all the new meds, exercising but didn't know he was filling up with fluid which was slowly happening and ultimately almost killed him.
Vinny is on disability and Alison is currently not working since she is taking care of him. Your donation is greatly appreciated!
Organizer and beneficiary
HollyMarie Glunk
Organizer
Chatham, NJ
Alison Forte Mosca
Beneficiary