Tony Breitrick

Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.

Several months ago, at a physical, Tony's Dr. noticed some concerning things that prompted further investigation. It was discovered that Tony had a congenital heart defect called a bicuspid valve. It's not uncommon for this condition to go unnoticed until later in life, but, unfortunately it can cause other complications. In Tony's case, it caused the development of a fairly large aortic aneurysm.

And that brings us to now...Tony will have the valve and aneurysm surgically repaired/replaced on June 3. It will be an open heart procedure which may last up to 8 hours. He is likely to be hospitalized for around a week, and he will then embark on a couple month recovery journey.

At this time, we covet your prayers. Our prayer is that the surgery is smooth and successful, and that the recovery process is comfortable and as uncomplicated as possible.

The whole COVID 19 situation adds some concern, too. If Tony somehow contracted the virus, especially during recovery, it would not be good. The virus also impacts our family's ability to visit him in the hospital. As of today, I believe I (Becky) will be allowed to see him one hour total after his surgery. We have heard mixed messages about when that one hour will be allowed. As you can imagine, this is really troubling. After such a significant surgery, there would be much more peace of mind if we could check on Tony in person. We are hoping there is some mechanism for video visits or something, but we are unsure at this time.

So, all that to say we are thankful for your care and concern during this time, and we plan to use this site to keep people updated.