James, an Amazing Dad, Incredible Project Manager, and Everyone’s Friend! James is in a little bit of a ‘pickle’ and it’s not his daughter….(his daughter’s nickname is pickle)
He collapsed while on a job site for unknown reasons, although at this point we are suspicious of the heart. He recently tested positive with the gene marking Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, a rare genetic condition that goes back 4 Generations. His Mother, Hollis was diagnosed and alerted family members because this condition can be suddenly fatal. It’s hard to diagnose, hard to recognize, and hard to predict but there are ways to prevent it from taking our lives, NOW, in today’s technology. Although his grandfather and great-grandmother both died suddenly (great-grandmother was young) of this condition.
But just as James figured out he was positive – worked on getting his kids tested – he went to work and collapsed for no known reason. Because of a lack of oxygen to the brain he was in danger of brain damage, they put him in a medically induced coma to prevent further brain damage. He was in heavy sedation for 3 days until the family finally insisted he be wakened. As we pulled back the sedation we are sure James is in good shape and will be able to return to his life. Yet, we need to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
After 9 days in the hospital James has come to understand what happened and of course wants to prevent it from happening again. James likely had a syncope episode which would make him fall out suddenly in relationship with his heart. Syncope is completely unpredictable and very dangerous in a variety of ways. He was diagnosed with HCM, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. This is a thickening of the heart muscle that is often missed and underdiagnosed. James is a Big Hearted Warrior and he is lucky to have survived the episode. Now he must have an implant of what we call an S-ICD which is a device just under his skin and arm that will shock him if this happens again. This means a surgical procedure and his insurance is just getting booted up. So as we come into a solution for this experience we are faced with medical bills that could follow his young family for years to come.
In order to counter this, we are doing fundraisers to help with this unexpected cost since he was in between insurance policies. He is applying for financial assistance and grants to help and also doing these fundraisers. James was planning to buy his first house and having something like this on his credit score would slow his family down from a natural growth. James’ heart episode is NO FAULT of his own, HCM is not known to be influenced by exercise or smoking or diet or anything like that. In fact, it’s a completely genetic condition that is just unfortunate to experience and can cause fatal episodes.
Let’s even the playing grounds for his family and make sure these costs for extreme emergency care, two ambulance rides and finally a completion of care at Hershey Medical doesn’t keep James from the natural growth his young family deserves. If you buy a T-shirt, half the money goes right towards James hospital bills and the T-shirt itself helps to bring awareness to this possibly common disease, HCM.
Funny thing is, James is so independent he wouldn’t dream of asking or doing this. If you know him, you know that’s true. Yet, here we are asking for your support. We have made T-shirts in honor of his journey and you can order them now below- Not only do these T-shirts support James’ medical bills and such, but they also help spread awareness that this genetic condition can just sneak up on you. Learn more about HCM at www.4HCM.org