Man, when it rains, it pours. As many of you know, my papaw passed away recently. (A big thank you to everyone who contributed to that thread, by the way. Papaw would've loved people getting a kick out of me sharing his stories.)
Papaw died suddenly of a heart attack, and I've learned in the past week that much of his last stress and depression came from being sick with worry over his oldest son, my Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve has had heart problems for a long time that a pacemaker was helping him with, but he'd had a heart attack over Christmas that almost claimed him. In fact, he HAD died before the pacemaker managed to shock him back to life.
It turns out that Uncle Steve is in need of a heart transplant, and the odds are not good. He's in his 60's and 6'7", so he'll need a donor within relatively close proximity who's two inches taller...and those are pretty tough to come by. First, though, he's got to go to Vanderbilt in a few weeks to have a pump put in just so he can prepare for the transplant.
One of Papaw's last acts was to begin fundraising for Uncle Steve's transplant and medical bills. (I'm not good with insurance stuff, but from my understanding Uncle Steve has reached what's called the "donut hole" of his medical coverage; insurance has provided for a lot of his stuff up to this point, but until he reaches a higher threshold he's actually paying on his own--for heart meds that are thousands of dollars apiece and that he can't miss for more than three days in a row or else he dies. Scary situation.)
So I'd like to respectfully ask that those of you who do so, to please pray for my Uncle Steve, my favorite uncle and a really good man. Much like Papaw, he's always looked out for me and had my back. He's also (despite his age) recently become a father for the third time (not counting children from other marriages he's raised as his own over the years); his two-year-old daughter is the sweetest, sassiest thing I've ever seen. Pray he'd be able to raise enough money for his medicines, for the housing he'll need while he's at Vanderbilt for the heart pump, for a viable donor nearby at the right time, and for a successful transplant and recovery.
And for anyone who's interested, you can make a donation for Uncle Steve here. Any help anyone can give in this is greatly and deeply appreciated, even if it's just to share the link on Twitter or Facebook.
Thanks for listening, guys--I want you all to know how much I appreciate this board, for everything: the encouragement I've received, the people I've gotten to know, and the laughs that really helped when things were getting just a bit too rough. Appreciate you guys a lot.
Papaw died suddenly of a heart attack, and I've learned in the past week that much of his last stress and depression came from being sick with worry over his oldest son, my Uncle Steve. Uncle Steve has had heart problems for a long time that a pacemaker was helping him with, but he'd had a heart attack over Christmas that almost claimed him. In fact, he HAD died before the pacemaker managed to shock him back to life.
It turns out that Uncle Steve is in need of a heart transplant, and the odds are not good. He's in his 60's and 6'7", so he'll need a donor within relatively close proximity who's two inches taller...and those are pretty tough to come by. First, though, he's got to go to Vanderbilt in a few weeks to have a pump put in just so he can prepare for the transplant.
One of Papaw's last acts was to begin fundraising for Uncle Steve's transplant and medical bills. (I'm not good with insurance stuff, but from my understanding Uncle Steve has reached what's called the "donut hole" of his medical coverage; insurance has provided for a lot of his stuff up to this point, but until he reaches a higher threshold he's actually paying on his own--for heart meds that are thousands of dollars apiece and that he can't miss for more than three days in a row or else he dies. Scary situation.)
So I'd like to respectfully ask that those of you who do so, to please pray for my Uncle Steve, my favorite uncle and a really good man. Much like Papaw, he's always looked out for me and had my back. He's also (despite his age) recently become a father for the third time (not counting children from other marriages he's raised as his own over the years); his two-year-old daughter is the sweetest, sassiest thing I've ever seen. Pray he'd be able to raise enough money for his medicines, for the housing he'll need while he's at Vanderbilt for the heart pump, for a viable donor nearby at the right time, and for a successful transplant and recovery.
And for anyone who's interested, you can make a donation for Uncle Steve here. Any help anyone can give in this is greatly and deeply appreciated, even if it's just to share the link on Twitter or Facebook.
Thanks for listening, guys--I want you all to know how much I appreciate this board, for everything: the encouragement I've received, the people I've gotten to know, and the laughs that really helped when things were getting just a bit too rough. Appreciate you guys a lot.
