Dear Giving Community,

We are fundraising for our father, Richard Weiser Jr., who received a heart transplant on August 28th, 2021. Dad has been dealing with heart issues for over 20 years since he suffered his first heart attack on April 15th, 2001. Since that time, he has endured a plethora of difficult heart-related issues: multiple heart attacks, having a stent and defibrillator implanted (and reimplanted), countless episodes of ventricular tachycardia, and a stroke in 2017. Throughout this prolonged ordeal, Dad has remained upbeat and optimistic—a positive influence in the lives of his friends and family with his trademark dry humor and wit.

In late July of this year, Dad flew to Seattle (from his home in Hawaii) in hopes of being placed on a waiting list for a heart transplant. On August 17th, while performing his final eligibility test at the University of Washington Medical Center, he went into cardiac arrest and collapsed. Doctors and nurses performed CPR on him for 45 minutes and, miraculously, were able to revive him. He spent the next 11 days in the cardiac ICU on an ECMO machine (life support) before he was finally able to receive a healthy heart for transplant. The procedure went well and so far his body has shown no signs of rejecting the heart.