One broken-hearted Nevadan 🤕

[Antcap]

Well I'm getting my two abdominal hernias fixed on the 24th and it may take up to 6 months before I'm 100%. That sounds great but now I'll find out Tuesday about my back. Anyways back to my story. After the ekg results came back I found out that I had an irregular heartbeat called WPW. After trying to fix the problem using cathaders through my arteries and failing, the doctors decided they would have to open me up. Being 15 yrs old and being told that you have to have open heart surgery was the scariest thing to hear or even imagine. The surgery was a success but unfortunately I had to have a pacemaker implanted. I was treated like a celebrity while in the hospital since I was so young. They had me walk down and talk to a guy in his thirties that was so depressed about his surgery that he refused to get out of bed. After this 15 yr old showed him what I'd been through and had just walked down to see him 3 days after my surgery, he got out of bed and met me at my room right after I had gotten back. He thanked me for being such an inspiration! From this point my life changed because I could no longer play contact sports or anything that I over exerted myself. My very promising soccer career was over and now what was I to do? This was when hunting became an even bigger part of my life. I had started hunting at the age of 12 but now it meant so much more. As John and everyone of you know, nature is wonderful. Being in the solitude always gives me time to think and figure out that this was just a stepping stone to all of the great things that came out of my medical issues. My doctors used to have any young person that was having a serious surgery call me and we would talk about what was to come and not to be scared. I started playing baseball and really got into bowling. I made soo many good friends that I would've never met otherwise. At the age of 18 my left lung collapsed for no reason. I was in the hospital for 18 days on my back with a chest tube the whole time. I was released from the hospital on a Saturday morning and I convinced my mom to take me straight to the bowling alley for my weekly league. They announced over the PA system that if I collapsed on the lanes that I'd never be allowed in that bowling alley again. My second game I shot a "298" game. I'm telling you guys these stories because you just never know what life has in store for you. I'm married to the love of my life and have 3 beautiful children and if I would've gave up on myself then maybe I would've never experienced all of these wonderful things in my life. I know I'll push through this challenging time and I can't wait to see what God has in store for the next chapter of my life.