Prevent Bankruptcy due to Heart Attack-Skin Cancer
Donation protected
Some of you may have the great fortune of knowing the unstoppable Shawn Axelrod. Father, friend, fanatical climber, and businessman making a difference one bag of climbing chalk at a time. But since June of this year, Shawn as not been the same.
While in the middle of doing what he loves the most. Climbing. Shawn became alarmingly short of breath and friends and family with him recognized that something was very wrong. Months of back and forth, anxiously waiting for news, Shawn’s angiogram revealed the cause of his heart-attack-like symptoms. A blocked artery was discovered, caused by surgical clips used in previous open heart surgery in 1988. Despite a healthy life of passionately spent in the outdoors Shawn’s heart now pumps roughly 25% less efficient. He has been diagnosed with early-stage congestive heart failure.

But that alone is not why we are starting this funding drive. You see, when Shawn was 19 he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) causing his heart to beat very erratically; a life-threatening condition. In an effort to control his heartbeat (it can beat over 300 bpm) they performed open-heart surgery. Less than 2 years later Shawn was back out climbing.
Shawn returned to what he loved and raised a family until, on his 40th birthday, he was readmitted to the hospital for similar conditions where doctors also discovered an aortic aneurysm and a leaky valve. “Icing on the cake”, as Shawn says but after the subsequent surgeries over the next 10 years, his heart was never the same again.
This takes us to now. Shawn confided in me a few weeks ago he shared that he is on the verge of bankruptcy due to all his ongoing medical bills. Over the last 3 years, he has incurred over $15,000 in spite of insurance. To top it off, he does not qualify for any cardiac rehabilitation since he technically did not have a heart attack. So he's forced to try and build back some heart muscle all on his own. That's the part that scares everyone the most, going it alone. It doesn’t make sense and it sounds dangerous!

Shawn's not one to sit back and watch the world go by. He's lead a very active lifestyle and all his doctors tell him to stay active but the complications caused by his numerous heart conditions are a dangerous combination.
Our hope is to help Shawn start to pay off his medical bills. He will need tests every year now and he has enough on his plate already. The most important part is to help him pay for professional cardiac rehabilitation sessions. Anyone who suffered a heart attack needs cardiac rehab. It's unsafe to let a patient go it alone. That’s what Shawn will have to do if we do not help him.
For those of you who do not know Shawn. He is a spectacular friend, a wonderful person, and has a deep passion for climbing. He founded Climbing Addicts to give back to his most cherished activity but has had to put it all on the back burner. We all miss him at the cliff.
We ask for prayers and donations in an effort to relieve as much stress from Shawn as possible. We hope the climbing community and his friends will help support him as much as possible. We love you, dude!
Update - Had a scare just after the New Year of a reoccurrence of Skin Cancer on my back. The Dr. wanted to treat it like cancer and excised the area and performed a biopsy. Thankfully it's not a reoccurrence and all is well. Just a bit of healing time and good as new!
Please share Shawn’s story, help us get the word out, and contribute what you can.
Thank you for your support.
While in the middle of doing what he loves the most. Climbing. Shawn became alarmingly short of breath and friends and family with him recognized that something was very wrong. Months of back and forth, anxiously waiting for news, Shawn’s angiogram revealed the cause of his heart-attack-like symptoms. A blocked artery was discovered, caused by surgical clips used in previous open heart surgery in 1988. Despite a healthy life of passionately spent in the outdoors Shawn’s heart now pumps roughly 25% less efficient. He has been diagnosed with early-stage congestive heart failure.
But that alone is not why we are starting this funding drive. You see, when Shawn was 19 he was diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome (WPW) causing his heart to beat very erratically; a life-threatening condition. In an effort to control his heartbeat (it can beat over 300 bpm) they performed open-heart surgery. Less than 2 years later Shawn was back out climbing.
Shawn returned to what he loved and raised a family until, on his 40th birthday, he was readmitted to the hospital for similar conditions where doctors also discovered an aortic aneurysm and a leaky valve. “Icing on the cake”, as Shawn says but after the subsequent surgeries over the next 10 years, his heart was never the same again.
This takes us to now. Shawn confided in me a few weeks ago he shared that he is on the verge of bankruptcy due to all his ongoing medical bills. Over the last 3 years, he has incurred over $15,000 in spite of insurance. To top it off, he does not qualify for any cardiac rehabilitation since he technically did not have a heart attack. So he's forced to try and build back some heart muscle all on his own. That's the part that scares everyone the most, going it alone. It doesn’t make sense and it sounds dangerous!
Shawn's not one to sit back and watch the world go by. He's lead a very active lifestyle and all his doctors tell him to stay active but the complications caused by his numerous heart conditions are a dangerous combination.
Our hope is to help Shawn start to pay off his medical bills. He will need tests every year now and he has enough on his plate already. The most important part is to help him pay for professional cardiac rehabilitation sessions. Anyone who suffered a heart attack needs cardiac rehab. It's unsafe to let a patient go it alone. That’s what Shawn will have to do if we do not help him.
For those of you who do not know Shawn. He is a spectacular friend, a wonderful person, and has a deep passion for climbing. He founded Climbing Addicts to give back to his most cherished activity but has had to put it all on the back burner. We all miss him at the cliff.
We ask for prayers and donations in an effort to relieve as much stress from Shawn as possible. We hope the climbing community and his friends will help support him as much as possible. We love you, dude!
Update - Had a scare just after the New Year of a reoccurrence of Skin Cancer on my back. The Dr. wanted to treat it like cancer and excised the area and performed a biopsy. Thankfully it's not a reoccurrence and all is well. Just a bit of healing time and good as new!
Please share Shawn’s story, help us get the word out, and contribute what you can.
Thank you for your support.
Organizer
Shawn Axelrod
Organizer
Lafayette, CO
