Jonathan Allen’s Cardiac Arrest Recovery Fund

This is my brother Jonathan. He’s the father to an amazing daughter and son (ages 7 and 3), who he hasn’t seen in a month after suffering cardiac arrest. He’s a hardworking man who runs the family business and is always willing to help others.

On September 20, Jonathan had V-Fib cardiac arrest - the exact cause was unclear but his potassium was extremely low which could have been the reason. Thankfully CPR was started immediately. Since he never became responsive after they got his heart started again, the ER called a Code Cool. Code Cool meant they induced hypothermia to try to protect his brain. The first few days, they were continuously replacing his potassium. He was on multiple IV drips including a paralytic, sedation, and a vasopressor to keep his blood pressure up. His initial heart ECHO showed a severely reduced EF (how well the heart pumps).

We spent several days not even knowing if he would have any brain damage. Once he was finally stable enough to go for a brain MRI, thankfully it did now show any apparent anoxic brain injury.

Several days after the initial event, his kidneys started to fail, most likely due to a lack of oxygen when his heart stopped. He was then started on dialysis. As sedation was slowly decreased, he was able to start responding some. He was able to be extubated on Thursday 9/29. What a relief! Unfortunately, due to his kidneys not working and possible aspiration pneumonia, he became too acidic and had trouble breathing even on BIPAP, so he was intubated again on Monday 10/3. His dialysis was then switched to a slow daily dialysis that lasted 12 hours each time to pull all the extra fluid from him. He was put on strong antibiotics and anti-fungal medication for his lungs.

He had a heart cath with no obvious blockage. His repeat heart echo showed his EF was back to normal. He had an AICD (defibrillator in case he ever has another abnormal shockable rhythm) placed as well. Last Friday, he had a tracheostomy and a feeding tube placed. Hopefully both of these are temporary and will allow him to finish recovering without tubes in his mouth. This will also allow him to have a safe airway should he have any further respiratory issues and reduce his risk of aspiration while still getting nutrients. He has lost over 40 pounds since he was admitted to the ICU. We are still waiting for results of his kidney biopsy to help predict his chances of his kidneys recovering, but ultimately he may need a kidney transplant. They are still slowly weaning his sedation medication but he seems to be doing well neurologically, just very weak. He has been doing CPAP trials on the vent and soon they will let him breathe on his own and see how he does.

We are hoping that his children can visit him soon (currently they are not allowed in the ICU due to an age limit). This is just the begining of his long road to recovery. At some point, he will be transferred to a specialty rehab that can do IV drips and vent support while he receives physical therapy. We have been told it can take months and months for him to recover. Thankfully he has health insurance, so hopefully, that will help. Right now we are focused on his health and recovery and would like to make sure we can keep things such as his mortgage payments and health insurance paid.

My dad is trying to keep the family business running by himself, so we apologize for any delays. Normally my family has been in the position to help others whenever possible and now we've found ourselves in need of help. We are so very appreciative of the love and support we have received so far. We can never thank everyone enough, especially the amazing ICU team at Advent Deland and all those involved in his care.