Last saturday night(October23rd) a little after midnight I had finished everything I wanted to do so I got ready to bed.
A few minutes after getting in bed I had several things happen at once.
I got a migraine headache.I started feeling very weak.My chest started hurting,and I was having a very hard time getting my breathe.
I was home alone as the people that live with me,my wife, my daughter,my son in law and their 6 week old baby, had all gone ove to a friends house to watch a UFC event. I personally don't believe in supporting such events, so I didn't go.

I tried calling my wife on her cell 3 times and never got an answer.
I finally called the friends main number and she asnwered.I said "Get me my wife". She asked if everything was alright and I yelled at her "NO".

My wife got on the phone and asked what was wrong. I told her how I felt and that I needed to go to the ER. She wanted me to call 911 immediately,but I refused.I wanted her to come pick me up and take me.which is what she did.

She came and got me and took me to the hospital.One good thing is that the hospital is probably less than a mile and a half from our house. They immediately admitted me,with the symptoms I had they were thinking possible heart attack.

I have to admit I was not the calmest patient they had that night. I thought I was going to die. I had my wife call my brother,who lives almost 2 hours away from us to come,just in case.

It seems silly now, but when you are lying there and being given oxygen and are still gasping for air, it doesn't seem silly them.

Whilw performing tests it was determined on top of all the other things, I was severely anemic.

After determining I was stabilized they admitted me to the Critical Care Unit of the hospital.

It was at this time that my wife mentioned she had brought a laptop with her.
She always takes it with her because she is a big facebook fan and she loves to show off pictures of the grandchildren.

I had her give it to me and I made a post in a thread I had been promoting in the Off Topic Forum about a cause I fee very strongly about, a fundraising event for The National Kidney Foundation.
I said something to the effect that I wouldn't be harrassing the fine folks here for a few days as I had just been admitted to the hospital.
Its intent was to let those that are used to seeing me here everyday know why they wouldn't for a few days. Instead a miracle happened,but I will go more into that in a minute.

As far as my health,there were several issues.
Turns out I had fluid buildup in my lungs,which was making it hard for me to breathe.
That was also what was causing my chest to hurt when I breathed,and they feel it contributed to my BP being out of control and sky high.
There is no polite way that I can think of to say this(maybe I will think of one later and come back and edit this) but I was also bleeding from my lower region,which they thought was the cause of me being anemic.

I'm going to skip a lot of details, but I was finally released from the hospital Yesterday,October 27th about 4pm.

During that time I was given almost every test imaginable.
I had dialysis treatment every day.I was given two blood transfusions.
I had the procedure that every adult over 50 does NOT want to have but it was necessary.

While the drs never came to a real conclusion as to what caused my problems, they did feel that I was well enough to go home again.

BUT

That is all really background.
I hope Allen Says will forgive me here,but I feel what happened after I made that post is a miracle.

Some of my warrior friends took up the banner for me and ran with it.And they spread the word to the other parts of the forum and to other warriors,a lot of whom I don't know.

And the power of The Warriors and The Warrior Forum made a miracle happen.
I admit I have changed my Kidney Walk Goal several times ,but I was hoping to get a grand or two.

As it is, The Warrior Forum and Warriors hvae pushed me to the top.
I am currretly the number one fundraiser for this years Kidney Walk in Richmond Va. It happened so fast that the co-ordinatior called my house and left a message wanting to know what was going on.
She was especially surprised to hear I called her back from my hospital bed!

I am not good at saying some things.but when I saw how a core group of people here in the OT forum took up the banner for me and got other Warriors and their friends involved I have a confession.

I cried. Literally. And again, I hope Allen forgives me in this post,but I felt several miracles had happened to me.

Someone mentioned the fact that since my goal had been met that maybe I needed some assistance too. I try to not talk alot about that,though I am always willing to share about my illness,but I have had to declare bankruptcy twice in the past few years and about 6 months ago my car was repoed.

The fact is, a LOT of Warriors that I have never met came though again and my PayPal account which is usually sitting at $5 or $10 actiually has triple digits in it,the first time in years.

I am in total awe of the outpouring the people of The Warriors Forum has shown to me and would like to say God Bless You All.

(This was written at 5:30AM and will be subject to revisions and changes if needed.)