Pam: If you have ever eaten lunch/dinner at the hospital cafeteria, you have probably met my husband, Dave.  He has been the cashier there for almost 4 years.  

In that time, he has many health issues but continued to work while dealing with them.  In February, he was having a hard time catching his breath and having chest pain.  I called the cardiologist and described the symptoms he was experiencing. My concern at that time was the fact that he had just had 4 stents put in his heart at the end of January.  The cardiologist told me to send him to the ER and have them run 3 specific tests. If the doctor didn’t like what he saw, he was going to medivac my husband to Anchorage. Long story short, after I convinced him to go to the ER (he said they were short handed at work and didn’t want to go down until after work that day), he was medevac’d to Anchorage. He spent 12 days in ICU, had 4 surgeries in less than a week and came home with 3 more stents and a pacemaker. I flew up the day after he was medevac'd and found a rental car and hotel.  I tried to get into Hickle House, but they only contact you on the day they have an opening and I didn’t want to sleep in a rental car if they didn’t have any openings.  I can’t tell you how shocked I was to see how much it cost for almost 2 weeks in a hotel with a rental car in Anchorage, so I could be with my husband through this ordeal.

We have not received the final bill from the hospital yet. We have received a statement from the insurance company that states our portion is at over $101,000.00 so far. That didn’t include the whole 12 days. We could be looking at over $200,000.00 at this point. We just don’t know. 

We are now into April and found out he will not be going back to his job position which we thought was protected by FMLA. He was told he could go back to his position because of his past health issues. He could probably apply for disability and just say forget it, but he wants to continue to work. The reason I’m writing this is because my husband has fought long and hard with health issues and he has never given up. He has hard days, but he comes out of them and keeps on working. 

Unfortunately, we went through our savings replacing our roof when it was leaking buckets.  I thank God that we own our home and property and our vehicles. We have had no income since his last paycheck in February. 

I just want to say how very proud I am of him for continuing to battle through his health issues. We would like to say thank you for taking the time to read through this. We greatly appreciate any help offered.

Your donation is going to help with lodging, food, fuel and medication.

Dave: Many of you know that I have a hard time asking for help, and this isn't easy for me. I would give the shirt off my back to anyone out there if I needed to, and many folks who know me know I would do that.

My wife and I are deeply involved with the American Red Cross here in Alaska, and despite my just being on dialysis, we still offer our help to those in need in Alaska and beyond.

I love you all and I look forward to seeing you again real soon, both at work and out in the real world.