After several days of bouts of intense pain with what his doctor initially thought was a pinched nerve or autoimmune condition, Michael was sent to the Heart Hospital ER to rule out any possible heart issues. They immediately ran tests, and he had an angiogram the next morning. He learned that he had suffered a massive heart attack with multiple blockages and damage to his heart, and was scheduled for open heart surgery a couple of days later, this past Thursday, May 21st. His surgery lasted over four hours and required a quadruple bypass. Here is the post-surgery update from Allison.

Update on Michael:

I am happy to report that Michael’s surgery went very well. He ended up getting a quadruple bypass. As one of our sisters predicted, when he woke up from surgery he was so excited to find out he is still alive.

The doctor said that with his age and the amount of damage to his heart it’s extremely likely that he was just very genetically prone to heart issues (and then there are lifestyle factors that contributed). To compensate he will have to be extremely mindful about food, exercise, sleep and stress for the rest of his life. Michael is determined to get as much life out of his new heart as is possible.

We have a long and hard road ahead of us (and aren’t out of the woods yet) but we are still in the game. We are looking at this as an opportunity for us to go on a journey of healing together so we can suck all of the joy out of this life that we can.

The outpouring of love and support has been amazing. He hasn’t been well enough to look at his messages much, but when he does I know all of the good vibes and offers to help have really encouraged him. So thank you all.

This picture is of his first (excruciating) walk around the nurses stand. They say the pain is more intense for someone as young as he is and he has been an absolute warrior doing whatever he can to aid his recovery even if it feels like torture in the moment. I am so proud of him.