Help Heal the Heart of a Father ❤️

Family Vacation Turned to Tragedy

School is out for the summer and Joey Altomare and his family of 5, plus his mother-in-law head to Orange Beach, Alabama for their long-awaited family vacation.

They arrive and life is good.

They go to the beach for the day and Mom and Dad capture the moment with a selfie.

After a long day at the beach, this family is hungry! They head to Dick’s Last Resort for food & drinks served with a side of sarcasm.

The infamous Dick’s hat worn by Joey’s bonus son, Hunter.

However, one family member was not enjoying his time at the restaurant. Joey began experiencing chest discomfort that progressively became worse. He initially contributed it to acid reflux.

Tragedy Strikes

After dinner, the family heads back to their home away from home for the week but Joey’s pain intensifies. He asks his wife Kim to take him to the hospital.

Upon arriving to the hospital, Joey and Kim are given the news that no 40-year-old father expects to hear:

“You’ve had a heart attack and are lucky to be alive. If you’d waited just a little longer to come to the hospital, you wouldn’t have made it”.

Joey and Kim are floored when they hear the news and all he can think about is the family he would’ve left behind. They are told he will need an emergency heart catheterization to evaluate the damage and hopefully restore blood flow to the blocked areas of his heart.

The Heart of a Father

The doctor performs the heart catheterization without success and the Altomares receive the worst news yet.

“The blockages to your heart are too great. You’re going to need open-heart bypass surgery. The sooner, the better”.

Joey and Kim are devastated and terrified all at once. They deliver the news to the rest of the family who’ve been anxiously waiting at the condo with their grandmother.

The kids are heartbroken as they try to make sense of it all.

Kim adds a post on social media to inform family and friends of the news and to ask for prayers.

Katherine, Joey’s ex-wife, also posts on social media to lend support to the family.

Anticipating the Road Ahead

The Altomares were told that Joey would have bypass surgery at a neighboring hospital in a couple of days but to their surprise, days turned into hours. The doctor informs them that Joey will be transferred immediately to avoid delaying his heart surgery any further.

Soon after, Joey is whisked away to the new hospital via ambulance as Kim scrambles to get their things together and follows closely behind.

By the time Kim fights her way through traffic and makes it to the hospital, Joey is already being prepped for surgery and she doesn’t get the chance to see him before they begin. The fear of the unknown is agony for Kim since she lost two of her grandparents due to heart surgery-related complications.

Answered Prayers

The doctors are able to repair the two blockages in Joey’s heart and he makes it through surgery!

Not Out of the Woods Yet

Just as Kim begins to feel

a small sense of relief, a vessel in Joey’s heart begins to bleed. Doctors must re-open his initial midline chest incision to stop the bleeding. He receives a whopping 6 units of blood in the ICU to replace what was lost!

Things are touch-and-go for a while but eventually Joey’s condition stabilizes and he is transferred out of the ICU into a regular room.

Joey is now home from the hospital. He and his family have overcome some major obstacles but they still have a significant journey that lies ahead.

More About Joey

Joey is a 40-year-old father who has an 8-year-old daughter and 2 bonus sons who are 12 and 13. He is a husband to Kim, and a friend to everyone he meets.

Joey is an electrician and recently started a new job meaning his insurance benefits will not be in effect until August. According to the case managers at the hospital, he is not eligible for financial assistance at this time even though he currently has no income.

He will need cardiac rehabilitation care after his release from the hospital and will need to be off work for 8-12 weeks to recover. Joey’s wife, Kim, works at her children’s school but will also have to be off work for a while to drive Joey to appointments and help care

for him as he heals.

Immediate Needs

The Altomares have come up with a solution for securing insurance before August but it will take money. Cobra has agreed to insure Joey but they’re requiring him to pay for the months of June, July, and August upfront. That will cost them approximately $1,300. This must be paid ASAP so Joey can begin cardiac rehabilitation now that he’s back home. He will also be missing work for the next few months so I’ve set a goal of $20,000 to help them cover medical bills, gas, groceries, and other expenses to meet their basic needs until they’re able to return to work.

I have the privilege of being a bonus Mom to Kim’s two boys and know all of the details of the story to be true. We watch baseball games together, have cookouts together, and when hard times come—we go through those together as well. ❤️

I want to thank each and every person in advance for your kindness, generosity, prayers, and well wishes.

And also..

Thank you for helping to heal the heart of a father .❤️