Eric Schmitz Heart Journey

Hi, this is Billy Schmitz, Eric's uncle and here to offer help to Eric for this hard time that he is going through.

On Thursday, June 1 Eric went into the walk-in clinic for pain in his calf. After being examined they found out he was in afib (atrial fibrillation), his heart rate was at 183, and found a blood clot in his leg. As soon as they found this they rushed him to the ER. He was later admitted that day to Grand Rapids because they did an echocardiogram and found he was in heart failure.

While he was there, they found multiple pulmonary embolisms (blood clots in the lungs), DVT in his calf (deep vein thrombosis), afib (atrial fibrillation), tachycardia 160-180 resting rate (fast heart rate), and heart failure (heart doesn't pump enough blood for your body's needs aka weakening of the heart). When he found out he was in heart failure on June 1st his heart function was at 30%. They performed multiple cardiac tests to figure out what caused this and why it was happening but doctors have no idea why or what officially caused this. They performed MRIs and discovered there are no coronary blockages, the only additional thing they found is he has an enlarged heart. By the time he left on June 9th, his heart function was only working at 22%. He was discharged on Friday, June 9th because his cardiologist said he was at a standstill. Eric's doctors plan to do a cardioversion (shock his heart back into normal rhythm) to hopefully help his heart gain some strength back. However, his doctors cannot perform this at the moment due to the chance of dislodging one or more of the blood clots in his lungs which could cause stroke or death. While he is home he is on multiple expensive medications, restrictions of no more than 20lbs and no physical activity to raise his heart rate. He also has to wear a Life Vest (external defibrillator) 24/7 because his risk of a heart attack is extremely high. After Eric receives his cardioversion there is no guarantee he will not go back into afib or that his heart will regain its strength. The doctors have prepared him for what's to come and they are unsure what caused this or why his heart is so weak. Although there is no guarantee the cardioversion will work and can not guarantee his heart will repair but his cardiologist is optimistic he can gain some heart strength back to 30%.

Eric has restrictions that he has to follow to save his life. These restrictions make it so he is unable to work so he can pay his mountain of medical bills, expensive medications which he has no insurance for and the cost of basic needs.

Thank you so much for all the thoughts and prayers since he has entered this journey.

Eric, Ciarra and their four kids are going through a lot of life changes right now and any help would be greatly appreciated to help this amazing family.