Mark's Surgery: A Family in Need

Hello , I am Mark Rutledge I am 62 years old. I Worked as a Maintenance Manager In the poultry industry for 30 years and started my own millwright , fabrication and installation company in 1998 and kept it going until we closed due to my health in 2013.

I had developed coronary artery disease and heart failure in 2005 had stents placed. In 2008 I had the Widow maker surgery I had a 95% blockage on the in incoming side of my heart requiring open heart bypass surgery. They took the graphs from my leg. In 2012 I had Congestive Heart Failure this required more stents and wearing of a life vest for 6 months . I had a Pacemaker defibrillator implanted in my heart in 2013. I was diagnosed with Atrial fibrillation on 2015. I had to have my pacemaker defibrillator replaced in 2019. Again I had another curveball thrown at me in 2023 with Rectal Cancer I have been cancer free for 2 years in June . In the fall of 2024 I started having extreme angina and was having to take alot of nitro to survive. As of this week I have been scheduled for Thoracic Open heart surgery to replace my old bypass grafts from my leg in the 2008 surgery. I will enter Emory Hospital on Monday April 28 and have the Surgery on May 1st. Dr. Attia is expecting this to be a very high risk difficult surgery that will require removing old graphs getting new donor arteries from my leg and making new graphs for my heart. There are valves leaking by and other things to be repaired. We are Hopeful to survive this and be going home in a 3 week timeframe from surgery. This is going to be difficult for my chest to heal back because of old scaring from being cut open before. So the recovery time is longer than normal. This is all very high risk but I have no other choice. We think this will be a successful surgery. I will be able to do the things I love with my family again and be able to fish with and visit my friends again. Emory Hospital is located in North East Atlanta. We live in extreme southwest Georgia about 20 miles North of Bainbridge in a community called Hopeful. It is going to be an extreme hardship for my family as my wife has had to take a leave of absence from her work and will have to be able to have room and board in Atlanta for up to 4 weeks which will be extremely expensive plus the loss of her income for 2 to 3 months while I heal up. We are praying to survive and make it thru all of this and for the first time in my life I am truly in need of financial help from my friends ,family,neighbors and anyone who can donate a dollar to help us get thru these very difficult times. I am praying that all of my friends in the fishing world will think of me and help me make it thru all of this extremely difficult times without having to worry about the finances of it all. My wife Donna Terry Rutledge and I are sincerely grateful for anything you can do to help us and most of all to keep us in your kind thoughts and Prayers. We can survive this with God on our side and some thoughtful people that can help.

Thank you all and forever grateful,

Mark Rutledge