This is my brother James Brennan "Bubba" Young. He is 40 years old.
My brother has worked his whole life as a mechanic and/or a paint and body man. He has been very active in IMCA racing locally. He and a friend owned a car at one time.
Bubba built the car and functioned as a part of the pit crew during races. Although he no longer owns a part of the car, he still helps out with building the car and engine.
Bubba also enjoys restoring old cars and street rods. This mustang fastback he reworked won Honorable Mention in the Street Machine category at Dallas' Autorama in the 1980s.
Fishing is one of my brother's favorite pastimes. He has an old bass boat that he takes out to the lake fishing. At one time he and a friend had a campsite at Lake Fork and he spent weekends and holidays there fishing. More recently, he has been camping and fishing with friends and family at Lake Tawokoni.
In recent years the going has been a bit tough so he and a friend decided to go into business for themselves rebuilding old cars and making street rods. It was shortly after he started working for his friend that he became ill.
He thought that he had a cold around Thanksgiving. When he wasn't getting any better, he went to the emergency room. He was having some shortness of breath and was diagnosed with a sinus infection and given antibiotics. He wasn't getting any better so he returned to the emergency room and was diagnosed with pneumonia and given more antibiotics. He hadn't been to work in about a month, he was taking his medication and still he wasn't getting any better. He again went to the emergency room and this time was diagnosed with double pneumonia and again given antibiotics. He was very ill but because he doesn't have insurance, they did not admit him to the hospital. He woke up in the middle of the night one night weak and unable to catch his breath and my sister-in-law again took him to the emergency room.
This time they did an EKG.
January 16, 2003 he was admitted to Presbyterian Hospital of Greenville, Texas with congestive heart failure. He was in ICU there for six days and then transferred to one of the bigger hospitals in Dallas.
They did a cardiac catheterization there and the results were not encouraging. His coronary arteries are too clogged for them to do bypass surgery or angioplasty. The cardiologist told us that his heart is damaged and weak and that people with weak hearts don't live as long as other people.
A few days later when they released my brother from the hospital, the cardiologist mentioned heart transplant as a possibility but since he doesn't have health insurance it would probably have to be at another hospital.
He has applied for Social Security Disability but that takes some time to take effect and once he is approved, he would have to wait two years to be eligible for Medicare so he would have no relief as far as medical bills are concerned.
My sister-in-law has been calling all over the state of Texas and has been told by many that there is nothing they can do to help if my brother does not have insurance. She has also been told that there would be no difficulty getting the hospital bills paid but the tests and doctor's consultations he would need to be placed on the transplant list would probably have to be paid out of pocket.
Bubba is the fourth of five children and the only boy. He is the step-father of two, the uncle of ten and the friend of many.
I've set up this site to take donations to help with the costs of getting Bubba evaluated for the heart transplant list. Any help you can offer us would be greatly appreciated.
You can send donations via check to Bubba at:
Brennan "Bubba" Young
4007 Lakewood #B
Greenville, TX 75401
You can also make donations using Pay Pal.
Any surplus funds will be donated to The American Heart Association