Let’s pull together for Skip

Hi we are Skips Squad

If you know, “Skip Lag” you know that he is someone that always puts his friends and family first. He is never one to say “no” to anyone and goes above and beyond for loved ones. You also never find him without a positive attitude and a smile!

Since January 16th, Skip has been hospitalized at Tufts Medical Center. Originally the plan was to put in a temporary heart pump (Impella) and go straight for the heart and kidney transplant. Unfortunately, that did not work out as planned, though, as the pressure in his lungs and heart chambers would not go down fast enough for his body to be ready to accept a new heart. He also could not continue to stay on the Impella, as it is only meant to be used for 2 to 4 weeks. If it is used for longer than that there are major complications.

So on February 26th, they took an alternative route to get his heart strong enough for him to come home as he awaited his heart and kidney transplant. They put in a mechanical heart pump (LVAD - Left-Ventricular-Assistive Device). Overall the surgery was a success but some complications prolonged his recovery.

On March 29th, the doctors started to have conversations with Skip and his family about him coming home in 7 to 10 days with outpatient services. Skip was beyond thrilled! He was doing everything he could to ensure it was a definite and not a “maybe”. He was asking the doctors/nurses/nursing assistants multiple times a day to go for a walk to ensure he was getting stronger. He wanted to prove to them he was ready. The family also received all the training sessions they needed for him to be able to come home.

Then on April 5th (four days before he was supposed to come home), Skip had a major setback. His heart went into V-tech four times and his defibrillator was not shocking it back into rhythm at all. Instead, his defibrillator just kept shocking him over and over again. To calm his heart and body down, they moved him back to the ICU and put him in a medically induced coma. After they were able to calm his body down they discovered that the right side of his heart was substantially worse. As the left side of his heart is so supported by the LVAD it weakened the right side of his heart.

From April 5th to April 18th there were so many complications for Skip. To name a few- he aspirated on a bloody nose that resulted in a nasty case of pneumonia, he lost all his white blood cells for several days because of medicine they had to give him, he got a massive blood clot and his red blood cells started sharing so they were attaching each other. His kidneys also shut down in the process because of all the trauma his body was going through, so they had to put him on a 24-hour dialysis machine. From April 5th to April 18th he lost 23 pounds and he was fully supported by 10 IVs, a dialysis machine, his LVAD, a temporary right heart pump (Impella), and the breathing tube. It was an exhausting and scary few weeks.

On April 19th, the doctors did a “Hail Mary” (their words) procedure to put in an RVAD on the right side of his heart while also removing a massive blood clot. So, now Skip has an LVAD and RVAD to fully support his heart.

As of 4/26 - Skip is stable and each day the doctors are seeing some small improvements. The road ahead for Skip is a long and slow one, though. Skip has been in a medically induced coma for the past 3 weeks. In the the next few days, they are going to start waking him up to start the next chapter of his health journey. He is going to need a lot of speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy over the next several months to get his body ready to accept a heart and kidney transplant.

Skip will continue to live in the hospital until his heart and kidney transplant. It could be anywhere from 3 months to a year.

To help with Skip’s recovery, let’s take some financial burden off him and his family to help pay for day-to-day expenses and medical expenses. Skip and family are SO appreciative of all the support, prayers, and love shown to them during this extremely difficult and challenging time.

Skip would do it for us, so let’s do it for him!