Church family, I have been at the hospital for the past few days with the Patricks. I am sharing all of this with Stephanie’s permission.
On Wednesday night, Pastor Shane had a massive heart attack in his office while the student ministry was meeting. Shane’s family has a history of heart health issues, so he checks in with a cardiologist on an annual basis. His most recent checkup was in January, which makes this incident all the more surprising. He was taken to Evergreen Hospital, where the doctor removed a massive blockage from the main artery.
On Thursday, he was transferred to the University of Washington hospital where he is currently in ICU in critical condition. He has been sedated, intubated, and is on an impella pump. Doctors will begin trying to wean him off the breathing ventilator today, but currently he is not breathing on his own at all. As of now, their best guess is that his heart was “stunned” by the heart attack, but once they wake him up and try to have him move and breath on his own a little bit, his heart will “wake up” and begin to work properly.
However, his left ventrical is currently non-functioning and may have been too damaged by the heart attack to ever “wake up”. Depending on the damage, he may need meds to strengthen his heart or they may even implant an artificial heart and put him on a transplant list.
This is going to take some time; it’s a waiting game.
For now, here is what you can do, church family.
Pray. Before you jump into “action mode,” remember that prayer is the most powerful thing that we can do. Pray for Shane’s heart to recover. Pray that if he does need the artificial heart that there would be no complications. Pray for Stephanie and the boys to experience God’s comfort in this time of stress. Pray for our church family to love one another well through this.
Give some space. Right now, it is not helpful to bombard Shane or Stephanie with phone calls, texts, emails, or visits. If you do want to visit, there is almost no likelihood that you will be able to see Shane. You could, however, stop by and spend a few minutes with Stephanie. Please email me directly so that I can coordinate the times when people want to stop by. Click here to email me.
Engage. Next Tuesday, our various leadership teams will be meeting together. Pastor Shane carries a tremendous amount of responsibility for this church family, so it will take a lot of people pulling together to pick up some of those responsibilities and make sure that the church family is loved and cared for even while missing one of our key leaders. If you have been on the sidelines, now is the time to lean in and get involved.
We love you, Sound City. Thank you for your prayers and support during this challenging time.