Medical Fund for Jamie Watkins

My name is Jessica Watkins Bauer. My father is Jamie Watkins. We currently reside in Wilmington, NC. Most of you reading this probably know my dad, and if you've reached this page and you don't know him, let me tell you about him..... My dad has been in Wilmington since he was 7 years old. He has worked in the auto body repair industry my entire life. My father has also been an active racer the majority of his life. In November 2013 my father was diagnosed with diabetes. Throughout the year of 2014 he has been battling an ongoing sickness that we had not known about until this week. Due to lack of insurance coverage his condition was never discovered. Monday, December 15th, 2014 my father was admitted to the hospital. His blood pressure was 173/110 just sitting their relaxed. That obviously was not good! Throughout the week and after a series of tests they were going in to repair 3 main arteries of his heart with stints! To the doctors surprise... they found 3 major problems... 3 arteries in his heart were blocked. 1 at 100%, the second at 100% and the third at 85%. They were amazed that he was still alive and able to function. They said if he had waited a couple more months we would have been dead. Unfortunately he was not a canidate for stints and required a triple bypass (open heart surgery). This came to a complete shock to myself and my family. We were so unprepared for this news. On Saturday, December 20th, 2014 My father had his bypass surgery.  He is currently in CVICU.  He is stable. He is in a tremendous amount of pain. If you're wondering why I am telling you this, here is why...  My father has always been there when I have needed him or my family has needed him or ANYONE for that matter...  We started ALPHA Auto Body and Collision on January 7th, 2013. Running a small business is no easy task. Any time we have a customer come in whom has just been involved in a accident my dad is always so helping and will go above and beyond for a person he has just met. Some of you may know what it's like to be the main bread winner in your family, as well as having to live week to week. My father would never in a million years ask anyone for anything. He asked us not to tell the majority of our family until after the surgery was completed because he didn't want to worry anyone. I personally want to help my dad however I can throughout his recovery. It's going to be a long difficult road but we are ready for this second chance at life! I owe this to my dad to try to make his 2 or 3 months of rehabilitation a breeze.... I hope to earn enough money for him so that he can relax and not worry about how he will get money from week to week. If we can band together I know he will be so thankful for everything. So i'm asking for help please.... any donation will help. If everyone who cares for him can just donate a dollar it will help. My father has no health insurance. He will have to meet with Cardiologists and will be perscribed a few types of medications and we are trying to find a way to pay for all of these unexpected expenses! If you can just donate a dollar or whatever you can, we would be so grateful. Either way I am so able to have my father by my side thru the holidays. I will do everything in my power to make this easier for him! I will also be sharing a few events we have in mind for my dad soon that will possibly include a car show in his honor maybe and I will definitely be selling chicken plates in the near future to raise money for all of these unforseen expenses. Thank you so much for reading and all the support we've gotten so far.

yours truly,
Jess.