Medical Costs for Samuel McKelvey

Hello. My name is Samuel McKelvey and I live in Frontenac KS. Over the past four and a half years I have had health problems that I will outline in the following paragraphs and my medical bills have reached a total of over $450,000.00 of which I owe slightly over $48,000. Additionally, I still need to have two procedures – a colonoscopy and a robotic surgery to repair a hernia in the incision from the bypass surgery. I see no alternative but to start this campaign to raise money to help defray these expenses because my income is only a bit over $1,000 per month and I would likely have to declare bankruptcy if I am unable to pay them.

My health problems began in December 2013 when I was admitted to the hospital with symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure. I was given a heart catheterization and it was determined that I had a 45% blockage in my arteries. I was taken to Joplin MO for bypass surgery, but, after some delay, I requested that I be transferred to St Luke’s in Kansas City MO. The doctors there would not do the surgery because of DVT blood clots in my legs.

Over the next two years and four months I was admitted to the hospital on several occasions and was admitted to the Emergency Room on several other occasions. During two of these hospital visits I was diagnosed with Pulmonary Embolisms (PE) blood clots which can be life threatening. During three of these hospital stays I was again given heart catheterizations to determine if the blockage in the arteries had worsened which, unfortunately, it had.

Finally, in April 2017 I was admitted to the hospital with the third incidence of PE blood clots. Another heart catheterization determined that I had a 90% blockage in two arteries and I was told I needed to have the bypass surgery ASAP. The doctor who would perform the surgery said I was lucky I had not had a heart attack and the only reason I hadn’t was because I was still very active, something that would also help with my recovery. I had a quintuple bypass on June 20, 2017 and was admitted to a rehabilitation facility on June 28, 2017 for 21 days, but I was discharged after 11 days.

Over the next several months I had issues with medications and finally in October 2017 I was admitted to the hospital again with blood pressure and heart rate readings that were all over the charts. After some adjustments to my medications I was again sent to a rehabilitation facility for a 10 day stay. I was taken back to the hospital two days later with pneumonia which doctors said I had likely contracted during my previous visit.

Finally, in March 2018 I had to be taken to Joplin MO by helicopter because of internal bleeding which took 8 days and six blood transfusions to rectify because I had been taking blood thinners for quite some time.

As you have probably surmised, most of my time in the hospital was in the Cardiac ICU which is one of the most expensive places in any hospital and I am fortunate that I did have Medicare and reasonably good insurance, but I am still quite far in debt.