Help Marc Sail Again

Team fundraiser

Madhavan Thirumalai and Boris Mezhibovskiy are organizing this fundraiser on behalf of Marc Jacobi.

Donation protected

You know Marc Jacobi … he is a World Champion Sailor who freely gives his time and knowledge to help others achieve their potential, he is a loving brother and son, a respected realtor and, most importantly, a friend who will always have your back.

Well, now Marc needs our help and he needs it now.

My name is Madhavan Thirumalai. I race sailboats against Marc and have been his training partner for many years. Marc is my dear friend and for the past couple of months I, and a group of his friends from around Connecticut and indeed around the world have been worried sick about him.

In mid-September, Marc had an ablation procedure for cardiac arrhythmia. This relatively simple and commonplace procedure was undertaken by a highly regarded and competent cardiac surgeon. All seemed OK at the time and Marc went home to recover.

But something had gone horribly wrong.

Three weeks later, on October 12, Marc went into septic shock with bacteria leaking from his oesophagus into his heart. He was rushed to Yale hospital where he had two open chest surgeries. The first fixed the hole in his heart, the second fixed the hole in his oesophagus. Sometime during those surgeries, he had a heart attack and a stroke.

The doctors that worked on him were among the best in the world, but they only gave Marc a 13% chance of making it through the first week.

Marc was unconscious for that week, and so he never knew the odds. As we know he is a true fighter… so he fought to survive.

And survive he has, but at a cost.

Today, Marc is out of the ICU and in rehab where he is working hard to get back to health. However, his left arm is now weakened by a stroke, and his heart has not regained its strength.

In the past few weeks, a small circle of us decided there was a somewhat urgent need to fix Marc’s house for when he comes home in December. We raised a small amount of money and got to work. Now he has a lovely place to come back to and get strong again. But we now need to raise some more.

There are many uncertainties – how long recovery will be? What will the costs after insurance be? When will Marc be able to return to work? What we do know is there is a significant financial gap, and it needs to be filled.

Marc has been there for us all over the years – sailing, working, socially. He is the first to share his skills and knowledge. He is the first with a kind word or gesture, he is the first with words of encouragement when you need it most.

Now we need to help him on what will be a long road to recovery.

Thank you very much,

Madhavan

Here are two videos of Marc sailing a few days before the first procedure. What a beast!