Patrick Von Schlag Patrick von Schlag

Life Changes in a MomentOn Saturday, March 3, 2018 the life of the von Schlag family changed dramatically.  Patrick suffered a massive heart attack.  He was helicoptered to Johns Hopkins Hospital and admitted to the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.  He underwent quintuple cardiac bypass surgery on Thursday, March 8, 2018, and currently remains critically ill and fighting hard to recover.  

At present, Patrick in on dialysis, a ventilator and requires a balloon pump in his aorta to assist his weakened heart to pump blood to his body. He requires multiple medications to maintain his blood pressure, and today he was hit with another challenge; he was diagnosed with an infection. 

Over the last several days, Patrick has been awake and alert, communicating with his wife Elizabeth through blinks and hand signals. Of course, he is also trying to talk around his ventilator tube. If you know Patrick you can imagine how frustrated he must be not to be able to talk!

Everyone who knows Patrick immediately thinks of his warm, enthusiastic personality and how he and his family selflessly jump in and help anyone who needs them. They have unconditionally supported their family, friends, and community. Now, it is our turn to support them. 

Patrick has a large network of family and friends who are concerned about him, want updates on his progress, and want to know what they can do to assist the von Schlag family during this harrowing time.  Elizabeth has been spending her time at Patrick's bedside with the support of his mother and sister as well as her family and close friends. The process of Patrick's recovery is going to be a marathon, not a sprint, so this site has been created to ease the burden of communication from Elizabeth's shoulders.  

Please click on 'Ways to Help' to access Patrick's gofundme and Meal Train pages.

Thank you for caring about Patrick and his family.