Hi, My name is Eric and I started an online lead generation business in 2008. More on that later, I would like to talk about my experience last year when my dad, a navy veteran who served 26 years, had a massive heart attack at age 49.
My dad retired from the navy 5 years ago and started Musky fishing every weekend in the summer in the Wisconsin Musky Tour (WMT). While fishing on the Three Lakes chain in northern Wisconsin, he was complaining that he didn’t feel well to his fishing partner, Gary. My dad laid in the boat for about 20 mins and decided to get back to fishing. Well, his first cast he caught a keeper Musky (well, a keeper for the tournament, it’s all catch and release), so they went into clubhouse of a golf course on the lake so they could register the fish.
My dad decided he needed a glass of water and to just sit down for a while. Gary registered the fish while my dad went inside. Once Gary was done, he went inside and sat at the bar with my dad. My dad didn’t look good to him, so Gary took his pulse and it was racing – he immediately told the owner to get some aspirin and call an ambulance. My dad took the aspirin and minute later collapsed.
Gary started CPR immediately and a couple other people helped. Gary works in corrections and just passed his yearly CPR test.
The ambulance showed up quickly and they immediately had to shock my dad to get his heart beating again. They had to go from Three Lakes, WI to Eagle River to the hospital. And from there he was air lifted in a helicopter to Wausau, WI.
From Three Lakes to Wausau he had to be shocked a total of 21 times. He had a blood clock in his main artery. The doctor at the Wausau hospital worked fast to get the clot out, yet they still had to revive him after that. He had a 3% chance to live, and only a 5% chance of not having any brain damage.
It was the scariest moment in my life, and my family’s life.
If Gary would not have been there, we are pretty sure we would have lost my dad. If my dad didn’t catch that fish, he would have had his heart attack on a boat in the middle of a large lake. If the doctors, nurses, and paramedics didn’t do everything they could, he would not have survived. Everything went right that day.
Ever since I have been thanking all the nurses, Gary, doctors, and other emergency response people for their courage that day – they are truly HEROES.
Then I found this website, and I immediately thought I could raise some money for heart care research and CPR training in my area. So that is one reason why I am asking for donations, and if I get enough, I would like to start my own heart research and awareness foundation, so that if something goes wrong with someone else, there are always people there to lend a hand like Gary did.
You can see the article on my dad’s story here:
www.marshfieldclinic.org/patients/?page=cattails-2011-summer-east-man-saved
20% of the money raised will go CPR training classes, and heart research.
The other reason I’m asking for donations is to keep my online business running. I generate leads and sales for companies through various websites on the internet.
When I first started, I was really big into online poker, so I started a few online poker tips and strategy websites where I generated leads to companies like Full Tilt, and Poker Stars. Finally, last december, I broke the $3,000 per month goal I set out for myself when I started just a couple short years earlier.
Then in April of this year, the poker websites in the US were shut down completely by the FBI, and I lost over 70% of my income over night.
I have other websites and lead generation sites, but I’m taking in $800 per month, compared to the $3000 per month I was making.
I love what I do, and I’m very good at. I would be using the money to create more content for my websites, and generate more traffic, so I can create more sales and leads online.
I really hope to generate enough money to start my foundation, which will be named the Robert Lass Heart Foundation (after my dad). I haven’t told him about this yet, so hopefully I can surprise him. I think we can create a lot of awareness for heart disease and help people prevent and treat it better in the future. I’m sure once my dad knows about this, he will immediately be on board with the project.
Thank you very much for all of you who decide to donate! I can’t thank you enough.