Robb Yanagihara medical expenses fundraiser

Many of you know him. He’s Robb- “two B’s, no sleeves.“

On Monday, January 16, 2023, our good friend Robb Yanagihara had emergency surgery for a stroke he suffered while in the hospital.

He admitted himself Friday to get checked out at the urging of his roommate, because of disconcerting symptoms he had been experiencing that day and the day before. Over the weekend his condition improved, but then took a turn for the worse late Sunday early Monday, culminating in emergency angioplasty.

Post surgery, Robb still has full mobility and function over his body, but his right hand is slow to respond/ move. Additionally, he has intermittent difficulty speaking. Some words/sentences he can say just fine, but when trying to articulate certain points, he will get hung up on a word and then just not be able to finish the sentence. He says he can hear it all just fine in his head, but some of the words won’t make it through to his mouth. He also has mild “face droop” in the right cheek/lip area (but that has already improved!).

At the time of this writing, Robb Is still exhibiting the above mentioned symptoms, but they are overall improved from when we saw him on Tuesday. There was talk of the surgeons taking him in for another procedure to put a stent in an artery up in his brain, but from what we can tell at this time, it would seem they are keeping him under observation to see if his condition continues to improve.

He’s already had a six day stay at the hospital, very expensive surgery and plenty of other tests/procedures performed on him. Typical angioplasty surgery in Los Angeles runs anywhere from $42,000–$115,000 if there are no complications, and it appears that these statistics may be a few years old. And of course that doesn’t include covering his other bills such as rent, car insurance, etc.… and the fact that Robb is unable to work at this time and we don’t know how long he will be out of work while recovering. Robb‘s son, Robbii Yanagihara, has set up a special bank account that is tied to this GoFundMe campaign and will be administrating everything in his father’s name.

For those reading this that may not know Robb well, he is “one of the good ones.” A self-professed nerd and a huge Star Wars fan, Robb has leveraged his passion for the “galaxy far, far away” into a way to serve others. He has done this through his dedication to the charity organization known as Saber Guild, devoting countless hours to performances, events, appearances and practices in the name of charity, over the last 15 years. Robb even served as global director of Saber Guild for five of those years, a position requiring a hefty commitment of time and resources above and beyond those of regular members.

Besides being so willing to give of himself to others, anyone that knows Robb can attest to his positive attitude and overall sense of simply “doing what is right.”

Please help us help Robb get back on his feet and get back to doing what he loves – swinging his light saber in service of others!