Support Andrew Van Der Merwe

Andrew and Daria celebrated their wedding on Sept 18, 2021. Following this magical day, they departed on their honeymoon for a wonderful week in Jamaica.

When they arrived back into Fort McMurray, Andrew started to have severe stomach pain. Wednesday Sept 29 he was admitted into the hospital for pancreatitis. His health continued to decline rapidly, with his pancreas not working he developed diabetes and his body went into keto acidosis, this was stabilized by insulin. Due to the keto acidosis he was admitted into the ICU Thursday night. The swelling of his pancreas and fluid building up in his abdomen was compressing his lungs and causing difficulty breathing. Andrew was then put into a medically induced coma and onto a ventilator to help him breathe. Friday night, he began to lose kidney function so he was airlifted to the Royal Alex in Edmonton to the ICU for Dialysis and Plasmapheresis. Andrew's abdomen was dangerously full of fluid so on Saturday he had surgery to drain the fluid and help relieve the swelling of his vital organs.

Andrew is currently on life support, but he has been stable so far. Andrew's recovery will be a very long road, once he is out of the ICU he will likely still be in the hospital, then will need rehabilitation to aid in muscle loss during his time. It is estimated that every one day in the ICU will require 1 week of rehabilitation. At this time it is too early to know a timeline for his recovery.

We are seeking donations to help ease the financial burden for Andrew and Daria. This will help keep the focus on Andrew's recovery and settled back home to properly enjoy his new marriage and chapter of his life.