Expenses for Mark’s family, after aneurysm

UPDATE… nine intensely challenging and courageous days after suffering a massive aneurysm, we are saddened to announce that Mark succumbed to his brain injuries and he passed peacefully Wednesday night surrounded by his family. Mark leaves behind wife, Jill, children Kaden & Aubree, mother Yoko, brother Jake and sister Yumi. The entire family wishes to express extreme gratitude for all the prayers and support. Please continue to pray for the family as they grieve this unimaginable loss.

My name is Kira Hartley Klinger, Mark was my brother-in-law. This fundraiser has been set up to help Mark’s wife, Jill Hartley, and their two children Kaden and Aubree. All funds are solely accessible to and will be made available in its entirety to Jill and her family. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support. Below is the story of Mark’s last days, his journey complete on Saturday, April 8th when he donated the many gifts of hope and life as an organ donor, beautifully and appropriately on the night before Easter.

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Last week while at home, my sister’s husband Mark, suffered a massive aneurysm rupture of his left carotid artery resulting in a subarachnoid hemorrhage in his brain. Basically, he had a bubble in the wall of a major artery in his brain that burst, which caused a dangerous amount of bleeding to accumulate on the surface of his brain.

Luckily, my sister was able to call 911. He suffered multiple seizures and was transported to Northern Dutchess Hospital initially and then to Albany Medical Center later that night.

Within the first 36 hours, Mark suffered two additional ruptures and brain bleeds. Jill and her children were told that Mark’s chances of survival were very low and that he was in extremely critical condition. She was instructed to prepare for end of life care and was handed pink DNR orders to sign while the organ people took vial after vial of blood for donor matching purposes. This was absolute rock bottom for all of us.

We expanded our prayer circle to anyone and everyone who knew us. We waited for his mom to arrive from Las Vegas and hoped that he would hang on until she got there. My sister and the kids loved and prayed over him, held his hand, tried to say good bye.

But Mark had other plans. Wednesday afternoon, the beginnings of a miracle started to occur. My 16-year-old niece noticed that her father was responding to her voice with tiny hand squeezes. His nurse performed the routine neurological tests for signs of brain function and to everyone’s amazement he gave a very weak, but definitive “thumbs up” on command. Almost immediately, his ICU team was abuzz. One of his neurologists was called in to further access. A second tiny “thumbs up” was confirmed in front of his neuro team, in addition to some very small toe wiggles and responses to light. The attending neurologist met with my sister and they were told that against all odds, Mark had shown some very hopeful signs that he was trying to recover. Miraculously, we were now on the other side of death’s door.

Mark has been fighting ever since.

It is a long, unknown road ahead for Mark and his family. The outpouring of love, prayers and support has been tremendous and we are so grateful to have such a large circle of people who care and are holding them up. Divine intervention has taken place and we continue to ask for your prayers.

Unfortunately, the expenses of life extend no mercy during the worst of our struggles and my sister is carrying a tremendous load of worry for Mark’s recovery, end date unknown, while also trying to figure out how to keep things running during this time and keep life moving for their two teenage kids.

Thank you for reading this page and if you feel inclined to share the post, please do.