Ryan Barney Recovery Fund

If you know my older brother Ryan, you know he's one of the kindest, most selfless people you'll ever meet. Unfortunately, Ryan has had a string of bad luck over the past year. For starters, he began experiencing random blackouts and was ultimately diagnosed with a heart condition known as Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy where the walls of the ventricle become thick and can't take in or pump out enough blood during each heartbeat to supply the body's needs. He went through a difficult time most of last year due to his health issues, the resulting pile of medical bills and loss of income. Late last fall, Ryan finally received the corrective procedure known as Alcohol Septal Ablation where they go into the heart and inject an ethanol solution to deaden the thickening cells. Following the procedure, Ryan's life significantly improved in many ways. He got his energy, motivation and confidence back. His amazing wife Jessica finally got some relief from her tireless efforts taking care of him. Most importantly, she got her partner back and they began enjoying life again. Everything was headed in the right direction, the procedure seemed to be the miracle he needed.

A couple months after his heart surgery, he was helping our younger brother Keith set up his music equipment for a show. It was shaping up to be a great evening of music, friends and family, when suddenly he collapsed and hit his head on the way down. After an ambulance ride to the ER, it was determined that he suffered a Myocardial Infarction (heart-attack) and fractured his skull above his left eye resulting in a massive concussion. He spent several days in the hospital recovering, with the concussion being the most painful part of his suffering. We watched the Super Bowl in his recovery room, so at least we can all check that off our bucket lists. Before leaving the hospital, Ryan had a defibrillator installed inside his chest to kick-start his heart in case of future heart attacks.

Since being released from the hospital, Ryan has really struggled with recovery. With his head injury, he's been in a constant haze, in considerable pain, and has had a really difficult time sleeping. He's been struggling physically, emotionally and psychologically. For those that know Ryan, he's always been an unbreakable rock, so it's strange and difficult to see him like this. Fortunately, through all of this, his wife has been nothing short of a hero.

Unfortunately, things recently got worse, which hardly seemed possible. Ryan began experiencing uncontrollable chills, high fevers and he rapidly started declining. He was taken back to the ER a couple days ago and has been diagnosed with Sepsis, a very serious condition where his body was responding to an internal Staph infection from the surgical implant. Jessica, Keith and I were with him in the room as he was uncontrollably shaking and convulsing, known as Rigors. It was one of the most difficult things I've ever witnessed, there was nothing we could do to comfort him. They pumped him full of strong anti-biotics, narcotic paid meds, ibuprofen, etc. It seemed to take forever for relief to set in, but he gradually began improving and was more stabilized later that night. We were able to spend some quality time with him last night and his spirits seemed to be improving, thank god!

As I'm writing this, they are prepping him for surgery to have the defibrillator removed, once the device is removed, the Dr's will determine when it's safe to install a new one. We will then be waiting on test results to see the depth of the infection, paying close attention to kidney function and other organs. If there is a silver lining to this latest episode, this gives him more time in a medical facility to further recover from his concussion.

Ryan is a proud man, he would never ask for charity, and he may even get a little upset that I'm doing this. But I feel situations like this are exactly what GoFundMe efforts should be for. Ryan needs some good vibes, prayers, a break, and a little financial assistance to help with his mounting medical bills wouldn't hurt. Feel free to contribute if you've got the means. At the very least, please send him some love, it will go a long way to help his recovery. We're hopeful and optimistic that he'll have a full recovery and get back to doing the things he loves.

Thank you!