A Chance for Chan

StillHere

I don't ask for much. But please help my daughter and son in law AND Kieran. If you can. Every little bit helps. Love you guys! And SHARE SHARE SHARE EVERYWHERE! Thank you so much. 🤗😘

https://gofund.me/c6bc86b5

StillHere

The Full Story

Chan suffered from a myriad of misdiagnosed health issues, before heart failure was eventually suspected. Being a young and otherwise healthy patient, it was not top of mind. He had unexplained bouts of full-body hives, respiratory illnesses, various fevers and was treated for suspected pneumonia. 

The hives began directly after his first COVID vaccine. Full-body hives continued, some periods worse than others, for months. He complained of chronic sinusitis, bad headaches and varied respiratory symptoms, until eventually, in March of 2022, feeling overwhelmingly ill, he went to urgent care.  There, he was diagnosed with pneumonia and given strong antibiotics and steroids. Throughout that treatment he suffered severe and violent gastrointestinal issues. It was thought this was due to sensitivity to the antibiotics. Later, Doctors would say that these symptoms were caused by insufficient blood circulation in the gut. 

At a follow up visit post-pneumonia treatment, his heartbeat registered in the 140s bpm range. At that point, he was transferred to the Emergency Dept. at WellSpan Hospital, Ephrata, where it was discovered that he was in fact, suffering from acute heart failure, with an EF (ejection fraction) of only 5% and multiple blood clots residing in the left ventricle of the heart. He was in cardiogenic shock. He was very close to losing his life. 

The following day, he was transferred and admitted to York Hospital WellSpan, where he was put under the care of a cardiologist there and prescribed a LifeVest external defibrillator garment to be worn around the clock.

As he progressively became sicker, in May, 2022, he was referred to Penn Medicine, Philly, for a transplant workup. Over the next 9 months or so, despite various treatments and procedures, heart catheterization and heart muscle biopsies, Doctors were unable to heal his heart. 

Now under the care of the Cardiac Transplant Team at Penn, an internal debribrillator/pacemaker was inserted. This, hopefully, would prevent Sudden Cardiac Death. He would spend several days to a week at a time as an inpatient at Penn. 

Though medications were altered and adjusted, his health continued to deteriorate.  Early in the week of April 10, he became so short of breath and weak that he was unable to walk from his bedroom to the kitchen without stopping to rest. He was exhausted. 

At a scheduled to visit his Penn Med Cardiologist the following day, it was determined that he would once again be admitted, this time to the ICU/CCU at Penn. After reviewing the results of another Cardiac Catherization and other testing, it was decided that he would remain there until a suitable donor heart comes available. That is an indeterminate amount of time. 

An Impella heart pump has been surgically implanted to help his heart move blood more efficiently to his brain and internal organs. 

There he remains. We began the Go Fund Me campaign to help cover some of the income that Chan would have been contributing to the household as well as that lost by his wife, Jessica, my daughter, from time off work to drive Chan to numerous appointments, procedures and hospitals. 

At this time, their 10 yr old son, Kieran, is not permitted to visit his Dad in the ICU/CCU. Hopefully, he will be moved to a less restrictive ward soon. 

I could go on and on, as you see. There is so much to tell. 
Thank you for listening. 

We want to thank the nurses who visit quite often to maintain IV mediation, care for his Picc line and facilitate continued coordination with his cardiology team