Heart Failure Survival Fund
Donation protected
Imagine being 26 years old and seemingly thriving. You’re hardworking. You spend 48 hours a week carving metal parts at a machine shop and most of your free time doing lawn work and landscaping for the small business you started with your dad almost a decade ago. You’re advancing. You just finished an associates degree at the local community college, and you’re also about to begin a career with the local electrician's union. You’re fit. Your body fat percentage, weight and cholesterol are all low. Blood pressure is a little high, but within the average range. You’re long past the phase of binge drinking and partying. You’re in love with a beautiful girl, and you’re saving a small nest egg and have a 401k.
How quickly can your life turn upside down?
6 days.
Wednesday: You take a leisurely stroll around the block, as you’ve done hundreds of times before. The weather is beautiful. Suddenly, you feel winded. Huh..
Thursday: You feel generally sluggish. Notice some pain while breathing. Maybe it’s pneumonia, you think…
Friday: You feel heaviness on your chest. You’re short of breath. You lay down and feel like you can’t breathe well, but maybe it’s congestion.
Saturday: The heaviness in your chest is worse, painful even. You lay in bed, propped up, for most of the day.
Sunday: You feel as if someone is standing on your chest. You know the doctor won’t be open till tomorrow so you wait.
Monday: You call for an appointment and describe your symptoms to a nurse on the phone. At first, there were no available appointments, but then a cancellation opened up a time-slot. Upon arrival, they hook you up to an EKG. Your doctor rushes in and says, “I cannot believe you are walking. We have to get you to the hospital now. You are having congestive heart failure.”
86% of your heart had shut down.
Doctors give you 6 hours to live.
Diagnosis: Cardio-myopathy. Scarring of the heart.
It’s a long night, but God is looking out.
You survive. But now, you’re in an upside-down world.
Fast forward 6 months, and you’re diet has changed, as has your body. You’re limited to a teaspoon of salt per day and two liters of fluid. You aren’t supposed to lift more than 15 pounds. You’ve lost 35 pounds and are now underweight.
Your medical bills and routines have stacked up. You wear a leased LifeVest 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, a wearable defibrillator and heart monitor. The only time you can take it off to get some relief is while you are in the shower. You take 8 medications per day with countless side effects. You, or more accurately your parents, pay monthly for COBRA health insurance but you still pay out of pocket for specialized equipment. You visit two cardiologists every two weeks and have had frequent scans. They tell you to expect needing an internal defibrillator or a possible heart transplant within 5-10 years.
You’ve been denied unemployment and disability services even though your heart is only pumping at 34% of its normal strength. You get denied by the union, and can no longer look forward to an apprenticeship. You futilely apply for jobs, knowing you don’t meet lifting ability requirements.
January 2020 admitted back into the hospital, this time for my third heart failure! Back to having trouble breathing or doing anything physical right now. My ejection fraction is now down to 13% No way have I gave up I just have to keep fighting harder than ever to improve upon that number and get me back to me. I’ll do all I can I just need some help from you guys out there. If you can spare anything at all no matter how big or small will be much more appreciated than you know.! Every little bit counts. God bless you !
Now, you’ve spent all your savings. You are at your wits’ end.
Then your neighbor says, you should try GoFundMe.
So here I am. My name is Michael Hitson, and you just experienced my journey. I hate asking for help, but sometimes you have to.
All donations will go toward paying my outstanding and upcoming medical bills. With support from my friends and family and by the grace of God, I hope to make a full recovery.
How quickly can your life turn upside down?
6 days.
Wednesday: You take a leisurely stroll around the block, as you’ve done hundreds of times before. The weather is beautiful. Suddenly, you feel winded. Huh..
Thursday: You feel generally sluggish. Notice some pain while breathing. Maybe it’s pneumonia, you think…
Friday: You feel heaviness on your chest. You’re short of breath. You lay down and feel like you can’t breathe well, but maybe it’s congestion.
Saturday: The heaviness in your chest is worse, painful even. You lay in bed, propped up, for most of the day.
Sunday: You feel as if someone is standing on your chest. You know the doctor won’t be open till tomorrow so you wait.
Monday: You call for an appointment and describe your symptoms to a nurse on the phone. At first, there were no available appointments, but then a cancellation opened up a time-slot. Upon arrival, they hook you up to an EKG. Your doctor rushes in and says, “I cannot believe you are walking. We have to get you to the hospital now. You are having congestive heart failure.”
86% of your heart had shut down.
Doctors give you 6 hours to live.
Diagnosis: Cardio-myopathy. Scarring of the heart.
It’s a long night, but God is looking out.
You survive. But now, you’re in an upside-down world.
Fast forward 6 months, and you’re diet has changed, as has your body. You’re limited to a teaspoon of salt per day and two liters of fluid. You aren’t supposed to lift more than 15 pounds. You’ve lost 35 pounds and are now underweight.
Your medical bills and routines have stacked up. You wear a leased LifeVest 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, a wearable defibrillator and heart monitor. The only time you can take it off to get some relief is while you are in the shower. You take 8 medications per day with countless side effects. You, or more accurately your parents, pay monthly for COBRA health insurance but you still pay out of pocket for specialized equipment. You visit two cardiologists every two weeks and have had frequent scans. They tell you to expect needing an internal defibrillator or a possible heart transplant within 5-10 years.
You’ve been denied unemployment and disability services even though your heart is only pumping at 34% of its normal strength. You get denied by the union, and can no longer look forward to an apprenticeship. You futilely apply for jobs, knowing you don’t meet lifting ability requirements.
January 2020 admitted back into the hospital, this time for my third heart failure! Back to having trouble breathing or doing anything physical right now. My ejection fraction is now down to 13% No way have I gave up I just have to keep fighting harder than ever to improve upon that number and get me back to me. I’ll do all I can I just need some help from you guys out there. If you can spare anything at all no matter how big or small will be much more appreciated than you know.! Every little bit counts. God bless you !
Now, you’ve spent all your savings. You are at your wits’ end.
Then your neighbor says, you should try GoFundMe.
So here I am. My name is Michael Hitson, and you just experienced my journey. I hate asking for help, but sometimes you have to.
All donations will go toward paying my outstanding and upcoming medical bills. With support from my friends and family and by the grace of God, I hope to make a full recovery.
Organizer
Michael Hitson
Organizer
Kingston, TN