Survivor Series Featuring Eduardo Grande

Hello, My name is Eduardo Grande Jr, 40 Y/o. All my life, I've been skinny but I was a very energetic, and strong boy.

Even though I eat a lot, I never gain any weight. I was nicknamed Skeleton and was bullied due to being skinny. I grew up on a farm planting rice.

I finished elementary and high school in San Jose City in the province of Nueva Ecija in the Philippines and moved to Manila, Philippines to go to college. I finished with an Associate in Hotel and Restaurant Management in Arellano University Sampaloc, Manila in March 2003 and then went to the USA.

When I got here in the USA, I worked as a home health aide/caregiver taking care of the elderly. I met my American Caucasian wife and had a child in 2006.  I took a medical assisting program but never landed a job and continued being a caregiver while also pursuing a side gig as the lead singer in a heavy metal band (my hobby).

All the years of being a kid, I never experienced any symptoms of having Marfan Syndrome until around 2007 or 2008. I remember when my dad and I were doing a paint job on a house and out of nowhere, I suddenly experienced an excruciating pain in my back all the way down to my lower back. I could not breath.  It was like something was stabbing me in the back and an elephant was stepping on my back. My dad drove me to the nearest hospital. I remember it was Crittenton Hospital in Rochester Hills, Michigan. They did some tests and sent me home with a diagnosis of a muscle back spasm. The pain subsided when I got home and I continued to live my normal life.

While being a caregiver, I also worked as a waiter and a sushi chef from 2007 to 2009 until my wife cheated on me with my best friend and I left Michigan in 2009 and drove to Oceanside, California to start a new life. My mother-in-law had the custody of my son. I promised my mother-in-law that once I got myself back together, I would like to come and get my son.

In the meantime, I sent money to help with my son. When I arrived in California, I landed a job as a caregiver. My mother is also a caregiver. She works as a 24 hour in-home caregiver. I remember I had to sleep in the freeway rest area just to get by until I could finally afford a room to stay.

Fast forward, in 2010, I enrolled in Spartan College in Inglewood, CA to become an aircraft mechanic. I commuted from Oceanside to LA just to go to school all while working my job in Oceanside. I eventually found a job in Torrance as a warehouse worker and was able to afford to rent a room in a shared house in Carson.

Fast forward, I was able to graduate as an aircraft mechanic in the fall of 2011. Fast forward, around February 2012, I remember I got the flu and a cough so my girlfriend, Brandie ( who I met in Carson and we are still together), told me to go to Harbor UCLA hospital urgent care clinic because I did not have health insurance and at that time she told me they would take me even with no insurance. I remember that there was a doctor in training that asked me to get an x-ray of me.

While in the waiting room, another doctor approached me followed by bunch of doctors and interviewed me regarding my health . I was so nervous and didn't know what was going on until one of the main doctors explained to me the situation. I remember him saying, "Mr Grande, I understand you are here for your cough but not related to your cough, do you by any chance having symptoms of fatigue, shortness of breath"? I said no. Then he asked me if I ever experienced any back pain followed by shortness of breath. Then I remember back 2008 when I had an episode of severe back pains and could not breath.

Then I was so nervous and in shock when the doctor told me that I had a dissection in my aorta and my aortic heart valve was barely working due to severe damage and it needed to be replaced and repaired immediately. And then I was told that I was lucky to still be alive due to the damaged it caused on my heart valve. I then called my Mom and my girlfriend and told them the bad news.

I was then scheduled for open heart surgery the next day, March 1, 2012.

I will never forget that day because that was my sister's birthday.

Dr. Puneet Dhawan was the doctor who repaired my aortic root and replaced my aortic valve with a St Jude mechanical heart valve.

After surgery, I was told that I had 15 % efficiency in my heart, cardiac heart failure. Fast forward, I was able to recover well and my heart efficiency went up to normal. I then landed my first aircraft mechanic job at Robinson Helicopter in Torrance in July 2012.

I was able to get an apartment in Torrance but most of all, I was able to get my son AND my dad from Michigan to California. Then, after two years, for career advancement, I was hired as an aircraft mechanic at Gulfstreams Aerospace in March 2014.

Fast forward to 2015, while working, I experienced severe stomach pain. I remember I didn't drive home but went straight to Kaiser hospital in Harbor City. I will never forget , I was vomiting, it was hard to breath and I had severe stomach pains. I was crying as I was waited in the emergency room for hours, I think about 8 hours of pain. Then finally, I was seen by the doctor. I remember he told me that they need to send me to Harbor UCLA hospital as they could not help me there. I was transferred by ambulance to Harbor UCLA hospital. I was then told I had a 9 cm abdominal aneurysm that needed emergency repair under Dr. Tim Ryan. Fast forward, I was able to heal and continued working at Gulfstream.

Fast forward, 2019, I was looking online for a heart doctor and surgeon that would take my insurance and my search pointed to Dr. Ali Azzizadeh at Cedar Sinai. I was able to set up an appointment and he did CT scans and made a plan of care for me. I was then feeling relieved when Doctor Ali told me he would take care of me. I then had another open heart surgery to fix my ascending aortic aneurysm with Dr Azizzadeh and Dr Aamir Shaw at Cedar Sinai in June 2019. I recovered well and started to go out and spend more time in the outdoors during my days off. I went camping, fishing, off-roading and more. And I started filming my adventures www.youtube.com/offroadchefs.

Then I lost my job due to the pandemic. My company closed down. I was jobless since Dec 2020. I lost my health insurance and wasn't able to secure an appointment with Cedar Sinai due to only having medicaid insurance. Fast forward, after years of looking for a job and the pandemic was finally over, I landed a Job at American Airlines as an Aircraft Maintenance Technician in May 2022.

After 6 months, I passed my probation at my Job. With my new health insurance,  I was finally able to secure an appointment with Dr Ali Azzizzadeh once again. Around January 2023, I had CT scans and

Dr Azzizzadeh scheduled a TEVAR surgery and left carotid repair in

March 2023 followed by thoracic abdominal aneurysm repair in June 2023 .

It was a very long recovery and the most painful one. On top of that, my son now a 17 y/o, also had his first open heart surgery to repair his aortic root @ Children's Hospital in LA in July 20, 2023. He also has Marfan Syndrome. Yeah it was a tough year for both of us.

Fast forward, I recovered well and my son did also. I was back to work in January 2024. I was also able to go back off-road camping and enjoying the outdoors during my days off whenever I can. I'm still with my very caring girlfriend, Brandie, who was present, holding my arms in all of my surgeries. I am still under the care of Dr Ali Azzizzadeh. My next CT scan appointment is on July 31, 2024 and a Dr Azzizzadeh appointment on August 8, 2024. I think I still have the right carotid artery that needs to be repaired in the future.

That's all I know so far. I feel better and I'm 100% back to work. Let me know if you have any questions... thank you for being interested in my story. Sincerely yours, Eduardo Grande Jr. 

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