So his HEART can go on – Romaine Mercer
What started out as a well-deserved vacation in over 20 years, almost ended tragically. My husband and I went on our first real vacation in over 20 years. We got married on a cruise in May 2004. So, we were so excited when his classmates decided to have their class reunion on a cruise in April 2025. Since we hadn’t been on a real vacation since getting married, we thought it would serve 3 purposes: seeing friends he went to school with, a great anniversary gift, and a well-deserved vacation. Unfortunately, by the third day, my husband began to not feel well. He continued to get worse despite trying all types of cold and flu medications. He spent the last 3 days of our cruise in our stateroom, as he was not well enough to participate in any activities. I told him once we got home, I was taking him straight to the hospital. April 13th, 2025, everything changed.
Upon exiting the plane, my husband passed out and EMTs had to be called. The airline physician would not allow him to continue our flight without first being cleared by a doctor, so he was taken to the emergency room. I am so thankful that the airline physician would not allow him to fly as my husband was admitted to ICU with congestive heart failure, pulmonary pneumonia, traveling viral infection, extremely high blood pressure with a very low heart rate, a temperature of 103, and a bleeding knee. The doctor said it was a blessing we didn’t make the connector flight because he feels he would not have survived the 4.5-hour flight. He was finally cleared to fly home 5 days later but ended up back in the hospital a week later, as he began to get worse. He spent 10 more days in the hospital then released. Again, starting to get worse and extremely weak. It has taken 3 hospital stays to clear up the pneumonia and lingering infection but to date, he remains hospitalized. His heart and kidneys are battling to see which can be worse.
After all the nurses, doctors, specialists, hospital stays, tests, and medications, it has now been determined that the combination of pneumonia and traveling viral infection and other issues were very difficult to treat and made his heart worse and did a lot of damage. He will be getting sent to University California San Diego, for continued treatment and surgery and potentially a heart transplant. He must have different medical procedures/surgeries, including a LVAD (Left Ventricular Assist Device) put in his chest. My husband is a veteran who before becoming ill, made himself available to help others. From getting their mail, becoming a fur-baby caregiver, professional dog walker, house sitting, ride giver – if he could do it, it was done. He’s a loving husband, father, grandfather, uncle, and friend. We want his heart to go on.
NOTE: The funds will be used to help with all medical expenses and care that insurance doesn’t cover.
