Derek's Miracle Journey

First of all, I wanted to say Thank You to the thousands in the US and around the world who have joined me in praying for my brother, Derek Forseth!

Just a brief recap: on Christmas morning, 2019, Derek went to the ER "not feeling right". They ended up admitting him for a heart issue. Since Christmas, he hasn't returned home from the hospital. After various tests and meetings with top Seattle cardiologists, Derek was diagnosed with congestive heart failure and was scheduled for a single bypass surgery on January 9, 2020.

That single bypass surgery turned into a triple bypass surgery and in the end his heart wasn't strong enough to pump on its own. So 5 days later he had another open heart surgery to put in an LVAD (Left Ventrical Assist Device) to help Derek's heart pump the blood it is supposed to.

A week after that surgery they found that Derek contracted an E-Coli infection in his chest surrounding his heart and lungs. He had 8 more surgeries to "wash out" his chest cavity from the infection over those next 2 weeks. He came very close to death during those washouts, but God was not done with him yet! The doctors were able to finally gain control of the infection and wire his chest bone back together.

He had 3 more surgeries to close his chest muscles and skin - bringing his total surgery count to 13! He has been in the hospital for nearly 100 days - most of that time literally fighting for his life in the ICU. The doctors say he almost died 4-5 times. We are finally starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He is off most of his meds, they have removed his feeding tube and trach and he has started taking steps just this week with physical therapy and to God be the glory...they are hoping to release him in the next few weeks to finally be with his family again. This is truly a miracle and again...I cannot thank you  all enough for your thoughts and prayers as so many of you have following Derek's Miracle Journey all along the way!! 

But his journey doesn't end there. It will be many months, perhaps up to a year to reach full recovery with the help of the physical therapists and his LVAD doctors. As you can imagine, being in the ICU (hospital) for this long, his medical expenses have accrued to well over $1 Million. Thankfully, most of those costs will be covered by insurance.

My hope and prayer is to offset Derek's out of pocket medical expenses - which look to be approximately $75,000.

I know this is a hard time for everyone in the US and around the world with the COVID-19. So please continue to give to the organizations you support and take care of your families in these times of uncertainty. But if you are able to help in any way beyond that and wish to join me in helping my brother and his family so that these out of pocket medical expenses won't be a hardship, I would be forever grateful! And if you can't no worries, he still can use all the prayers he can get on his road to recovery. 

THANK YOU for standing by the Forseth family through all of this and for all your prayers and support, you are all angels...God bless you all! Praying for everyone's health and safety during this time.

*** Please feel free to share/post with all of your family, friends and social media followings. If you would like to follow Derek's updates you can check out his Caring Bridge site at: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/derekforseth 

God bless you all!!

Best,
Brady