Help Chris improve quality of life after nr death
Donation protected
On Tuesday 12th September our lives changed forever, it was a normal Tuesday evening just like any other, Chris went for a soak in the bath while tea was cooking, afterwards he got dressed and was chatting to Kelly when all of a sudden he felt the worst pain imaginable in his chest, he tried to put into words what was happening but the words wouldn’t come, next thing he’s on the floor, eyes rolled back in his head and struggling to breathe, the ambulance was rung straight away only to be told it would likely be 8-10 hours before anyone responded.
He was struggling to cling onto life and his breathing became more laboured, Kelly rang 999 one more time and stressed that he looked like he was dying. After 30 minutes or so two ambulances eventually arrived, 4 paramedics and a student checked him over, they said it wasn’t a stroke but was heart related and he needed to go to hospital asap. We all got in the car to make our way to Kings Mill Hospital, my mum was in the ambulance with Chris, they couldn’t leave until they had hooked him up to machines and got him somewhat stable enough to travel.
When at Kings Mill Chris was taken straight through to resuscitation, he needed CT scans, it was another 1-2 hours before he eventually went for the scans, we waited in the family room not knowing if he was alive. The doctor came in looking very concerned, Chris had a large tear in his aorta and had to be rushed to Nottingham City Hospital, theatre had already been contacted and being prepped, but he stressed to us he had a 10% chance of surviving the journey, we were asked to go see Chris and say our final goodbyes just in case he didn’t survive.
By the time we got to the hospital Chris was already being prepped for theatre, two of the surgeons came to talk to us, they couldn’t stress enough how poorly he was, they gave him a 3% chance of survival and warned it would be a long operation.
We found out later that when they went back into theatre Chris was in cardiogenic shock, tapenade and peri arrest, meaning he had just had full cardiac arrest and his heart had stopped beating and blood flow to his brain and vital organs was restricted. They could’ve given up there and then given that he had such a small chance of survival without being severely disabled, but given his young age and knowing he had so many people relying on them, the surgeon decided to give it a go and perform surgery. Straight away he was put on femoral heart bypass and his chest opened up, he had already lost a great deal of his blood volume into his chest cavity. After nearly 9 hours and 5 blood transfusions he was moved to intensive care, we were told he had a type A aortic dissection involving the ascending aorta and going down to the aortic root. Chris underwent acute type A aortic dissection repair with root replacement, ascending aorta replacement, reimplantation of both coronaries and mechanical aortic valve replacement. After a few days in cardiac intensive care they tried to take him off life support, unfortunately his body couldn’t tolerate it so they had to put him back on. A day later they tried again, this time they were able to wean him off and he was moved to high dependency, eventually going onto Morris Ward, unfortunately he was having trouble breathing and his oxygen saturation was becoming dangerously low, more CT scans showed fluid in his pericardium, likely to be empyema, likely to have been caused by a bacterial infection around his heart, he also had a collapsed lung.
Again he was rushed into surgery, he had to have a drain put into his pericardium to get rid of all the fluid and hopefully reinflate his lung. After several days and several millilitres drained off, he was able to go back to Morris Ward. After spending another couple of weeks in hospital he was finally discharged, however it’s no where near the end, he’s now on Warfarin for the rest of his life due to having the mechanical valve, he now has to go to the GP and have his INR levels checked 3 times a week, the INR tells you how long it takes your blood to clot, adjusting his warfarin dosage keeps him within range, something he now has to monitor for the rest of his life. Ideally he would like to buy his own INR testing machine, you can only buy them from the NHS and they start from around £350, but then he has to have a prescription for the test strips and not all GP surgeries will prescribe them and they have to be purchased from the NHS, depending on which you need means they cost between £70-£120 a month.
Since leaving hospital he also has to have regular ECGs, MRIs and CT scans, a recent MRI has shown several bleeds on his brain, likely caused by the initial rupture and cardiac arrest, but this means it is all the more important to keep on top of his INR as clots can cause further brain damage as well as stroke or cardiac arrest. Due to these bleeds his is now suffering dizziness, headaches, nausea, blurred vision at times, memory loss etc. Obviously he has had to take sick leave from work, that is quickly running out, he is only on sick pay as it stands, the financial situation is beginning to take its toll on his health, he has children to support, bills to pay, medication to pay for as well as the added lifetime journeys to the GP and 3 different hospitals. The hope for this page is that we can raise the money to buy the INR machine so at least it cuts down three trips a week and he can rest a little more. Being as he has taken a massive financial loss which isn’t likely to change for at least a year, we hope we can help out by taking some of the financial burden away, therefore reducing his stress and reducing the chance of a stroke or cardiac arrest. He is only 41 years old and deserves the same quality of life that we all do, he deserves to be there as his children grow up and be able to walk his daughter down the aisle when she’s older. He has helped out his local community giving his time to volunteer at the soup kitchen, during COVID he put himself on the frontline to make sure the homeless still got a decent meal every day and helped deliver food parcels, he also became a lifeline for some who had no one to talk to and built a rapport with service users, he was someone they could confide in, which in turn helped the mental health of many. Now I hope the community can come full circle and give a little back at a time when it is truly needed. Thank you for taking your time to read about his story and let’s hope we can make the coming chapters more positive.
Since leaving hospital he also has to have regular ECGs, MRIs and CT scans, a recent MRI has shown several bleeds on his brain, likely caused by the initial rupture and cardiac arrest, but this means it is all the more important to keep on top of his INR as clots can cause further brain damage as well as stroke or cardiac arrest. Due to these bleeds his is now suffering dizziness, headaches, nausea, blurred vision at times, memory loss etc. Obviously he has had to take sick leave from work, that is quickly running out, he is only on sick pay as it stands, the financial situation is beginning to take its toll on his health, he has children to support, bills to pay, medication to pay for as well as the added lifetime journeys to the GP and 3 different hospitals. The hope for this page is that we can raise the money to buy the INR machine so at least it cuts down three trips a week and he can rest a little more. Being as he has taken a massive financial loss which isn’t likely to change for at least a year, we hope we can help out by taking some of the financial burden away, therefore reducing his stress and reducing the chance of a stroke or cardiac arrest. He is only 41 years old and deserves the same quality of life that we all do, he deserves to be there as his children grow up and be able to walk his daughter down the aisle when she’s older. He has helped out his local community giving his time to volunteer at the soup kitchen, during COVID he put himself on the frontline to make sure the homeless still got a decent meal every day and helped deliver food parcels, he also became a lifeline for some who had no one to talk to and built a rapport with service users, he was someone they could confide in, which in turn helped the mental health of many. Now I hope the community can come full circle and give a little back at a time when it is truly needed. Thank you for taking your time to read about his story and let’s hope we can make the coming chapters more positive.
Fundraising team: Team fundraiser (2)
Sara Spalding
Organizer
Pam Spalding
Team member