A heart transplant for my Dad
Donation protected
This is kind of a long story, but all of it will help everyone understand the entire situation.
Brian, my dad, has been married to Misti, my mom, since 1998. They have three children together. Caine (myself) will be 20 in May and is in his second year of college at Mississippi State University. Carlee will be 18 in May and is a high school senior at Belmont High School. Chloee is 14 and is in eighth grade at Belmont Junior High School.
In 2005, Brian was involved in a construction accident. He had multiple injuries, requiring multiple surgeries. The worst of his injuries was a broken back. He had to have an emergency surgery on his back, the day of his accident. In 2008, he had to have another operation on his back, this time was to do a spinal fusion, because he was losing feeling in his legs and had was unable to even walk at times. Because of the constant pain, he has not been able to work very much at all and was declared permanently disabled.
Through all of this, he has always tried to maintain the appearance that everything was fine and never wanting any help with anything, from anyone. Misti has always worked through all of this and they have been able to get by in life, without ever asking anyone for anything.
On August 26, 2016, Brian had a massive hear attack, the one known as the widow maker. Brian and Misti were on their way to Tupelo, MS, for an appointment Misti had, when the heart attack started. The ambulance met them and took Brian to the E.R., where the cardiac team was already waiting for him to arrive. They took him to the cath lab, almost immediately, and was able to open the artery and place a stent. They were told that he wouldn't have lived if it would have taken ten more minutes for him to have gotten to the hospital.
After his initial recovery, he seemed to be doing good for a short period of time. Within a short time, he was experiencing heart problems again. He has been in and out of the hospital so many times now that they have lost count. He has had to have many, many heart caths in the last two and a half years. He had to have three more stents placed in February 2018. For about a month after those stents were placed, he felt much better. Then he began to have problems again. He was having symptoms that is not the usual symptoms of heart related problems. After eight months of these problems, all of a sudden he began having the classic symptoms of heart problems again. This was in November 2018. The doctor suggested yet another heart cath, to see if they could figure out what was going on. They found that the stents that were placed in February, had scarred over inside the arteries and were almost completely blocked again. The doctors said they had a hard time getting them open again, but eventually were able to and placed stents inside the stents. They said that would be the last time they were able to place stents in those locations and a bypass surgery would be the only way to fix those areas, if they were to close off again. Brian has had lots of rhythm problems with his heart since his initial heart attack. Like most of his other health problems, this is another issue that isn't typical of what most other people have. Two weeks after the last stents were placed, he had to have a monitor implanted. This monitor connects remotely to the cardiologist office in Tupelo, where they monitor what is going on daily.
Again, Brian got somewhat better after the last stents were done. Within a month, he had some of the same symptoms return. The cardiologist ordered another echocardiogram at this point, This showed his heart function had dropped to 40 percent. The doctors assumed the arteries had closed again and that would explain the sudden drastic drop in the heart function. Another heart cath was done to evaluate what was going on. It was determined that the problem was now being caused by arteries that the
cardiologist in Tupelo are not equipped or trained to deal with. They suggested a group of cardiologist in Nashville, TN, that specialize in the most complex cases.
On February 26, 2019, Brian had his first appointment at Saint Thomas Heart in Nashville. He initially was seen by the specialist that determines if a bypass operation is even an option. While Brian and Misti were meeting with him, he was back and forth on the phone with different doctors, in that same clinic, that specialize in different types of procedures. After all of those consultations, the doctor explained that Brian's problems are really rare and they only see this type of problem about once every two or three years. He described it as the arteries are pruning, which basically means shriveling up, and said a bypass graft wouldn't take and the only other option would be a heart transplant. The doctor called the heart failure doctor, that specializes in transplants, and was able to get him to see Brian that same day. He was only able to see Brian for a very abbreviated appointment, because of him already being completely booked up that day, even before agreeing to see Brian. During this appointment, the doctor informed Brian and Misti that he agrees that a heart transplant is the only viable option.
Brian is a smoker and has been since about 12-13 years old. He has drastically reduced how much he smokes, since the initial heart attack. He was currently smoking about a half of a pack per day at this appointment. The doctor told them that he would have started the process of putting Brian on the transplant list that day, but you have to be completely quit smoking for six months before you can be on the list. The doctor changed some medication and Brian is going to be completely quit smoking before his next appointment, two weeks after this one. The doctor said the change in medication, and Brian quitting smoking, would hopefully buy some time for him to be put on the list.
While Brian was in Nashville, he had another echocardiogram, and the results were not received until about a week later which revealed his heart function was down to 30 percent. This was a drastic drop in a short amount of time and definitely something that was not expected. The doctors also mentioned that if his function gets below 25 percent that a LVAD, which is device that would be placed in a open-heart surgery procedure that would help his heart pump.
A heart transplant and the LVAD cost around $1.4 million and $750,000 respectively, and my dad's insurance only covers up to 80% of the medical costs, meaning he would have to pay around $280,000 for the transplant and $150,000 for the LVAD. Along with the medical costs, Nashville is about 4 hours from Belmont, and travel expenses start to add up also.
$280,000 is a lofty number, and I know that will be challenging to raise. But any help would be greatly appreciated. If you can not financially help, we understand, but I would like to ask of everyone to please continually keep my family in your prayers.
#anewheartforbrian
Brian, my dad, has been married to Misti, my mom, since 1998. They have three children together. Caine (myself) will be 20 in May and is in his second year of college at Mississippi State University. Carlee will be 18 in May and is a high school senior at Belmont High School. Chloee is 14 and is in eighth grade at Belmont Junior High School.
In 2005, Brian was involved in a construction accident. He had multiple injuries, requiring multiple surgeries. The worst of his injuries was a broken back. He had to have an emergency surgery on his back, the day of his accident. In 2008, he had to have another operation on his back, this time was to do a spinal fusion, because he was losing feeling in his legs and had was unable to even walk at times. Because of the constant pain, he has not been able to work very much at all and was declared permanently disabled.
Through all of this, he has always tried to maintain the appearance that everything was fine and never wanting any help with anything, from anyone. Misti has always worked through all of this and they have been able to get by in life, without ever asking anyone for anything.
On August 26, 2016, Brian had a massive hear attack, the one known as the widow maker. Brian and Misti were on their way to Tupelo, MS, for an appointment Misti had, when the heart attack started. The ambulance met them and took Brian to the E.R., where the cardiac team was already waiting for him to arrive. They took him to the cath lab, almost immediately, and was able to open the artery and place a stent. They were told that he wouldn't have lived if it would have taken ten more minutes for him to have gotten to the hospital.
After his initial recovery, he seemed to be doing good for a short period of time. Within a short time, he was experiencing heart problems again. He has been in and out of the hospital so many times now that they have lost count. He has had to have many, many heart caths in the last two and a half years. He had to have three more stents placed in February 2018. For about a month after those stents were placed, he felt much better. Then he began to have problems again. He was having symptoms that is not the usual symptoms of heart related problems. After eight months of these problems, all of a sudden he began having the classic symptoms of heart problems again. This was in November 2018. The doctor suggested yet another heart cath, to see if they could figure out what was going on. They found that the stents that were placed in February, had scarred over inside the arteries and were almost completely blocked again. The doctors said they had a hard time getting them open again, but eventually were able to and placed stents inside the stents. They said that would be the last time they were able to place stents in those locations and a bypass surgery would be the only way to fix those areas, if they were to close off again. Brian has had lots of rhythm problems with his heart since his initial heart attack. Like most of his other health problems, this is another issue that isn't typical of what most other people have. Two weeks after the last stents were placed, he had to have a monitor implanted. This monitor connects remotely to the cardiologist office in Tupelo, where they monitor what is going on daily.
Again, Brian got somewhat better after the last stents were done. Within a month, he had some of the same symptoms return. The cardiologist ordered another echocardiogram at this point, This showed his heart function had dropped to 40 percent. The doctors assumed the arteries had closed again and that would explain the sudden drastic drop in the heart function. Another heart cath was done to evaluate what was going on. It was determined that the problem was now being caused by arteries that the
cardiologist in Tupelo are not equipped or trained to deal with. They suggested a group of cardiologist in Nashville, TN, that specialize in the most complex cases.
On February 26, 2019, Brian had his first appointment at Saint Thomas Heart in Nashville. He initially was seen by the specialist that determines if a bypass operation is even an option. While Brian and Misti were meeting with him, he was back and forth on the phone with different doctors, in that same clinic, that specialize in different types of procedures. After all of those consultations, the doctor explained that Brian's problems are really rare and they only see this type of problem about once every two or three years. He described it as the arteries are pruning, which basically means shriveling up, and said a bypass graft wouldn't take and the only other option would be a heart transplant. The doctor called the heart failure doctor, that specializes in transplants, and was able to get him to see Brian that same day. He was only able to see Brian for a very abbreviated appointment, because of him already being completely booked up that day, even before agreeing to see Brian. During this appointment, the doctor informed Brian and Misti that he agrees that a heart transplant is the only viable option.
Brian is a smoker and has been since about 12-13 years old. He has drastically reduced how much he smokes, since the initial heart attack. He was currently smoking about a half of a pack per day at this appointment. The doctor told them that he would have started the process of putting Brian on the transplant list that day, but you have to be completely quit smoking for six months before you can be on the list. The doctor changed some medication and Brian is going to be completely quit smoking before his next appointment, two weeks after this one. The doctor said the change in medication, and Brian quitting smoking, would hopefully buy some time for him to be put on the list.
While Brian was in Nashville, he had another echocardiogram, and the results were not received until about a week later which revealed his heart function was down to 30 percent. This was a drastic drop in a short amount of time and definitely something that was not expected. The doctors also mentioned that if his function gets below 25 percent that a LVAD, which is device that would be placed in a open-heart surgery procedure that would help his heart pump.
A heart transplant and the LVAD cost around $1.4 million and $750,000 respectively, and my dad's insurance only covers up to 80% of the medical costs, meaning he would have to pay around $280,000 for the transplant and $150,000 for the LVAD. Along with the medical costs, Nashville is about 4 hours from Belmont, and travel expenses start to add up also.
$280,000 is a lofty number, and I know that will be challenging to raise. But any help would be greatly appreciated. If you can not financially help, we understand, but I would like to ask of everyone to please continually keep my family in your prayers.
#anewheartforbrian
Organizer and beneficiary
Caine Page
Organizer
Belmont, MS
Brian Page
Beneficiary
