My husband Donny is fighting for his life at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, and I'm asking for help getting him through it.

Donny has a prosthetic heart valve, and it's become infected - a condition called infective endocarditis. What started as a serious infection has gotten worse: doctors have now found an abscess forming around the valve, and pieces of the infection have already broken loose and traveled into the arteries of both his arms. He's facing emergency open-heart surgery to replace the valve, on a timeline that keeps moving up as his condition changes.

On top of the medical fight, we're dealing with an insurance nightmare. Donny's employer terminated his health insurance without notifying him, while continuing to take insurance premiums out of his paycheck for months - leaving him completely uninsured during a hospitalization in June that has already left us with over $34,000 in medical bills. His coverage was eventually reinstated back to July 1, but it terminates August 31st, right in the middle of everything he's facing now, including a surgery that could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. He was notified of his termination of employment on 8/19/26 via forwarded email of accounting details that don’t mention the insurance lapse COSTS, just offering to reimburse $1,193.57 in "Health insurance pret" (Health Insurance Pretax) that was deducted weekly DURING the uninsured period of 17 weeks of deductions - to create the assumption that he was insured the whole time. 

The estimate of the open-heart surgery, not including physician fees at the University of Iowa Hospitals is $465,682.00. 

We are doing everything we can - chasing emergency Medicaid, fighting the insurance situation, and sitting at his bedside - but the bills don't wait, and neither does his heart.

Any amount helps. This money will go directly toward Donald's medical bills, his upcoming surgery and hospital stay, follow-up care once he's home (he'll likely need home IV antibiotics and nursing care for weeks after discharge), and the travel costs I'm covering just to be there for him — gas, lodging when I can't make the drive back the same day, and the income I'm losing every time I have to leave work to be at his bedside.

Donny has worked hard his whole life. Right now what he needs most is to survive this and come home to heal. Please consider giving whatever you can, and please share this even if you can't - every share reaches someone who might be able to help.

Thank you for helping Donny.

Kim, Donny's wife