Update: On August 21 at 5:33 in the morning, my amazing husband passed. We are all devastated and in disbelief. As many people know, Gordy got shingles in June. He was unfortunate enough to get it on his face and in his mouth. He was hospitalized at the end of June to get him on fluids and IV antivirals and monitor his kidney function. When he was released, the lesions were mostly scabbed over and he was tired but much better. He was able to go back to work but he was still very tired. A few weeks ago he started to get even more tired and on the Friday before we were set to leave for vacation, I had to wake him up because he wasn’t up when I got home from running an errand. He wasnt making sense when he talked to me and I knew something was really wrong. I drove him to the closest ER where they took him straight back to triage and then to a room. He had a 102 degree fever and his WBC count was really high. They did a head CT and thought he was okay and was just suffering from a bad fever and was talking strange because of the fever. I had them call Gordy’s transplant doctor in Milwaukee, who wanted him transferred up to St. Luke’s. After waiting for a bed to open, they finally were able to transport him up there late on Friday night. on Saturday I went up to see him. The cultures taken in the ER had come back positive for MRSA and he was septic (likely contracted through one of the shingles lesions). He was sitting up and talking mostly normally and eating. And gowned, gloved and masked, I was able to hug him before I left. We thought he just had a bad infection and needed to be monitored and given heavy antibiotics. He told me to take the kids and go to Michigan. The kids and I got everything together to go (and moved all the stuff out of the main floor of our house because we were getting the floors redone over vacation). We left early Sunday morning. I stayed in contact with Gordy and his mom and his care team at the hospital. But soon things started to get so much worse. Testing showed that he had suffered multiple minor embolic strokes (like a shower in his brain,according to the neurologist). The infection had gone into his heart and caused a major vegetation on his mitral valve (which is what caused the strokes). He had open heart surgery to replace the valve (and ultimately the aortic valve as well). We expected him to be in the CVICU for 3 days and then a regular hospital room for about 3 days.That surgery was on Thursday, July 31, and he is still semi-conscious in the CVICU. He suffered a hemorrhagic stroke during the surgery, which thankfully did not continue to grow. He is fighting infection all over his body, including his liver, and his transplanted kidney. He has been on constant dialysis and had a procedure to remove a large clot from the artery leading to his liver and gut. On August 3rd we had a conversation with the critical care doctor, who gave us the impression there was a high possibility that Gordy would never leave the hospital. Since then his body has continued to fight and he is making slow progress in the right direction, but whether or not he will recover remains to be seen, although the cardio thoracic surgeon believes he is improving. Thank you for all the well-wishes and support. I have been under water dealing with the travel back and forth to Milwaukee every day, managing things at home, getting Caleb and Lily ready for the first day of school (tomorrow) and Faith ready to move in to college next week, and attempting to work. I’m sorry that I have not been able to respond to every message or text. It’s very overwhelming. Gordy is improving slowly but surely. We still have a very long road ahead of us, and there will be challenges, but my husband is a warrior, and he is fighting. Several people suggested that I create a fundraiser page to make it easier for people to help support our family. Please do not feel obligated in any way. We appreciate the love and prayers. Thank you!