Help Brian Weese recover from 6 bypass surgery

Hello friends & family.  On 8/22/21, Brian suffered a massive heart attack while moving our daughter, Lauren, into Austin college in Sherman TX. After multiple trips up & down 3 flights of stairs (no elevators in her housing at school), Brian began experiencing terrible chest pains, shortness of breath, and he felt like an elephant was sitting on his chest. We called 911 & the Sherman FD & an ambulance arrived within 4 minutes. He was immediately taken to Texoma Medical Center where he underwent an emergency cardiac catherization. They found he had multiple blockages, one at 100% & others  ranging from 70-90%. Bc he had so many blockages, they were unable to stent any arteries. They placed an aortic balloon pump to stabilize him. Early Monday morning, we met with the cardio thoracic surgeon who advised Brian that he needed bypass surgery. At 9:30 am, he was rolled back and surgery began. It was a very long, complicated surgery and he ended up needing SIX bypasses. They had to take veins & arteries from his leg, arm and chest wall. Upon being placed back in the CVICU, I was able to briefly see him. It is a sight I will never forget. The next day, they were able to pull him off the ventilator and begin the process of “waking” him up. Day by day, progress was slowly made. They removed the balloon pump on Friday 8/27 and that is when he was finally able to sit up and begin to move. By Monday 8/30, the dr discharged him home. Our usual 1.5-2 hour trip from Sherman to home was longer as he cannot be in the car longer than 60 minutes before needing to stop and move around. Brian will have a very long recovery and will be out of work at least 6 weeks minimum. 

Brian is the sole provider for our family. He is self employed as a personal trainer & strength coach at PowerPlay Fitness & Park Cities Personal Training Studio in Dalkas TX.. So when he doesn’t work, there is no income aside from my disability. I have dilated cardiomyopathy and congestive heart failure and have been unable to work since 2006. We have a small savings we are using in the interim but it won’t last long. Brian is currently on COBRA health insurance as he lost his job with benefits due to COVID.  Thank God we had elected COBRA in June. Brian’s fellow trainers who are the BEST TRAINERS in DFW, want to help us & are doing  fundraisers and felt a gofundme would be the easiest way to raise money along with their fundraising. Any money raised will go towards deductibles, medical expenses like copays, coinsurance, cardiac rehab, medications etc. , COBRA health insurance premiums, and also our living expenses when savings runs out. Brian is a very proud man and is having to deal with an extremely difficult surgery recovery and  loss of income for quite a while. This recovery journey is not just a physical one, but also an extremely emotional one. There are so many changes that he is experiencing on multiple levels. We are so appreciative of the love and support and most importantly PRAYERS from so many people as the doctors have told him he is very lucky he received help so quickly and wasn’t alone. A six Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Surgery is very rare. It’s a long road but Brian is so very motivated to follow doctors’ orders. Now he is the athlete and his treatment team are his coaches. A total role reversal for him. He has helped so many people of all ages and fitness levels, but now he has to turn that energy towards himself. Again, thank you for your support and PRAYERS.