Support Ryan's Heart Surgery Recovery

My name is Max and I am starting this GFM for my sister Alexis and brother-in-law Ryan... Two of the most hard working, compassionate and kind people I know. Sometimes it's easy to get complacent and forget that life can change in the blink of an eye as my sister and her husband were recently reminded.

Ryan has worked as a local concrete finisher since he was 16 years old and has been in his trade for close to 30 years now. He is passionate about what he does and extremely skilled. But he simply is not the type of man to ask for help or handouts... He's usually the one giving them. However, he's looking at being out of work for appx 3 months. His wife Alexis is also taking some time off to help with his immediate care, transportation and recovery at home. They are going to need a little help to keep up on bills and to get through the next few months. Ryan needs to concentrate on healing and not be worrying.

On October 24th, only a week before his 44th birthday, Ryan suffered a heart attack.

After arriving at the Maine Medical Center he received an EKG. Unfortunately, the EKG showed that his heart was very sick and there was a lot more going on than just the initial heart attack. He was quickly transferred to the critical care unit and began further testing. After those tests their world was flipped upside down... A team including a cardiac surgeon came to discuss the results. Unfortunately, Ryan's heart was in bad shape. Oddly enough, the initial heart attack turned out to be the VERY thing that saved his life though! He had a long list of repairs needed to save him. He required a mechanical aortic valve, an aortic arch, an aortic root and a significant amount of aortic mesh to repair his aorta. His surgeon said his aortic valve had some of the most "impressive calcification" he had seen throughout his entire career.

The average aorta is approximately 2 to 3 cm around... Ryan's was 5 to 6 cm around. So double what it should have been. But the REAL danger was hiding on the aorta itself... He had a large bubble on the side of his aorta that was ready to let go any moment. The surgeon made it clear that he would have died if it had burst. The surgeon said it was almost a certainty that Ryan would not have made it another year with that bubble. It would have resulted in an aortic dissection and he would have dropped dead of an aneurysm. It is a VERY sobering experience to hear that you would not have made it another year.

He was scheduled for an extensive open heart surgery on November 4th... Just 3 days after his 44th birthday (which he celebrated in the cardiac unit.) The surgery was scheduled to take anywhere between 5 and 7 hours. In the end, his surgery lasted a little over the full 7 hours. Ryan received the new mechanical aortic valve, an aortic root, an aortic arch and 27 cm of mesh aorta to repair the section with the bubble and the remaining section that was close to "disintegrating" and while the surgery itself is brutal... It's the recovery that is particularly difficult. He is not supposed to lift anything heavier than a gallon of water for the first month.

The estimated recovery time is around 3 months if everything goes according to plan and he doesn't push himself too hard, too quick. The doctor said the most difficult part of this entire process is learning to take it easy for the first few months.

He is also going to need lots of PT, appts with cardiac specialists and has traveling nurses coming to the house weekly to help with wound care and check ups. He will spend appx a week in the cardiac ICU after the surgery for the "immediate" recovery. Then he will go home for the remainder of his recovery with outpatient treatment. It's important that he lets his chest wall, rib cage and sternum fuse back together and heal properly. Any deviation from the docs orders could result in issues. So it's slow and steady for the first month after surgery!

Ryan and Lexi have a huge group of friends, family and co-workers... many of whom have already reached out asking how they can help. So I decided to start this go fund me for them. This will be the best way you can help the Crump family during their time of need. So whether you donate or share this it will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you all for taking the time to read this, for sharing it and for donating. But above all thank you for the prayers, good vibes, well wishes and love that everyone has shown them through this hard time... I know it means the world to them. ❤️