The tube is out!

The tube is out! He can't talk for 2 hours so we're trying to use our rusty sign language.  Its so good to see his smile! He doesn't know everything that's happened but he knew today is Wednesday. The doctor talked to us about goals: clearing the lungs, gaining strength, etc.  Because he's had a previous transplant they have to be more picky with this heart. That and weaning him from the ecmo will probably cause a longer wait.

We saw his eyes!!

We just got to the hospital. Levi is still slightly sedated but he looked at us and held our hands. The nurse asked him several yes/no questions and he nodded his head to answer. He is still on the vent but only for support. He's breathing on his own.  Waiting for the doc to come by and decide about taking the breathing tube out.

November 19, 2019 (2)

The surgery inserting the impella went well and he has much better blood flow through his heart.  They have lowered the sedation levels and plan for him to wake up early tomorrow morning and have the breathing tube removed.  We can't wait!

The docs want Levi to be able to get up and walk and gain some strength before having the transplant. 

He is still on the ecmo for now but they hope to wean him from it quickly.  While on the ecmo he is a status 1 for a heart and when it is removed he will move down to a status 2. 

Thank you for your prayers!

November 19, 2019

A few weeks ago Levi had a stress test.  He did worse than the one before, which was to be expected.  The doctors told him they thought he could go 6 months to a year before needing the transplant.

Three weeks ago they did blood work to measure a hormone that affects heart pressures.  Normal is 0-30 and his was 1000.  They wanted him to come back in 2 weeks to have a heart cath and insert a balloon pump to assist his heart function.

That was yesterday.  The balloon pump did not support his heart enough and he went into cardiac arrest.  They resuscitated him, sedated him and put him on life support (ecmo). 

This morning he was slightly less sedated and responding to verbal commands but not fully awake.  He will have surgery soon to remove the balloon pump and insert an impella which will support his heart better and allow some mobility. 

Please pray for his healing and wisdom for the doctors.

Monthly Donation Request

We would GREATLY appreciate your help in paying for Levi's upcoming heart transplant (we assume our portion will be approximately $150,000).  Rather than buying a product you don't really want that nets us only a few dollars we are asking you to consider making a monthly donation to Levi's Medical Fund (see below for donation options).  Please know that we appreciate every prayer, every uplifting word and every financial donation.


1.  Mail a check made out to Levi Shultz Medical Fund to:

Pinnacle Bank

c/o Tellers

PO Box 676

Keene, TX  76059

2.  Mail a check made out to Levi Shultz Medical Fund to:

Chris & Annette Shultz

1015 Elm Street

Eudora, KS  66025

(we will forward it to Pinnacle Bank)

3.  If you want your donations to be tax deductible you can make an online donation through Help Hope Live here.

Or, you can make checks payable to:  Help Hope Live

Note in memo:  In honor of Levi Shultz

Mail to:

Help Hope Live

2 Radnor Corporate Center

Suite 100

100 Matsonford Road

Radnor, PA 19087

Amazon Account Terminated

We are no longer an Amazon Associate.

We received notification from Amazon today that our Amazon Associate account was not in compliance with their requirements so it was terminated.  Thank you to all of you who used that as a way to contribute to Levi's medical expenses!

Kidney Transplant?

During one of Levi's hospital visits in the past few months the transplant surgeon mentioned doing a kidney transplant at the same time as the heart transplant.  Levi only has one kidney and we know that heart failure affects kidneys and that the transplant medications are hard on kidneys.  Still, we kinda just blew it off since no one has ever said his kidney was not functioning properly.

Well, this past Monday (August 5th) he went for a kidney transplant consultation.  They did a ton of tests (not quite as many as for the heart transplant consultation) and determined that his kidney is working at 44% of capacity.  It has to be down to 20% to be considered for a transplant.

So, it's good news that he doesn't need a kidney transplant but also concerning to know that it is not working as well as we had assumed.

We have more questions now than we did before .... and no answers yet.  But we know God is in control!