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What’s Wrong With Justin?

In October 2021, Justin was diagnosed with a genetic heart defect called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. That’s a mouthful, so I’ll refer to it as HCM…some call it Athlete’s Heart. It took us a year and many appointments with an army of doctors to learn of his HCM diagnosis.

Most people with HCM have no complications and live long lives. But when someone begins to experience physical symptoms, there is an 85 percent chance of sudden cardiac death in the two years following onset.

We’re preparing for Justin’s open-heart surgery next week at age 49 (he’ll be 50 in March). He’ll have a procedure called a septal myectomy on February 4. It involves entering the interior of his heart through the aorta and removing thin slices of the heart muscle to reduce the thickened area that’s interfering with one of the valves.

UPDATE 5/5/2022: Justin’s surgery was a total success! The surgeon also repaired his mitral valve during the procedure. He has recovered well and will return to full-time restricted duty at work next week. He still has a couple months of cardiac rehab to complete before he’s fully released to all normal activities.

An added complication is the fact that Justin also suffers from kidney failure…READ MORE OF THE STORY

Why Are We Sharing This?

We’re asking for crowdfunded financial support to cover our out-of-pocket medical expenses and replace Justin’s lost income during recovery. He qualifies for limited short-term disability payments, but our earnings will be affected for an extended time. A portion of Justin’s income funds our healing business operations because what we do is a labor of love. We give all we can to help those who need us, even when it costs us! Please help us keep giving to a broader community that needs our kind of healing.

• Medical expenses to cover our share of the HCM surgery, hospitalization, and care will be about US$7,500.

• The other US$7,500 of our US$15,000 fundraising goal is to help make up for lost income during the expected recuperation time.

UPDATE 5/5/2022: We continue to seek support. The projections we shared above were accurate. Through public and private donations, we raised just over $10,000 to help us through this financial setback. We are asking for another $5,000 in support because that’s the amount we had to borrow on credit cards to cover our lost income. We hope that if our story and updates help you, you’ll consider donating.

Thank you for your time and consideration in reading our story (READ THE WHOLE STORY HERE). If you ever feel compelled to reach out to us, please do! We are here to support you in your journey and would love to hear your story, too.