12/04/2025
Prayers for this family during this most awful time.💔
Sharing in case anyone can help them with some of the things they will need.❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Giving Back Day 1: I just want my Daddy.
This post will be hard to read.
It came to us as a Brickhouse Window nomination. When it came through, it completely levelled us…all of our staff were quiet for hours after hearing what was happening.
One even had to go home to take a moment.
We knew right away that we would lift the story from the Brickhouse Window to put into our 12 Days of Giving.
We would like to introduce you to Jamie, and his wife, Jenn.
They have three young boys.
On September 12, Jamie woke up with heart palpitations that made them nervous enough to call the ambulance.
The paramedics arrived.
Even though he was showing the classic signs of a heart attack, everyone thought it was an anxiety induced panic attack.
He walked himself out to the ambulance.
Once he was at the hospital, he sent a text to his wife…get the boys to school, take your time, I’m feeling better.
I’ll be ok.
Twenty minutes later Jenn got another call.
COME RIGHT NOW and do not come by yourself.
Her friend frantically drove her to the University of Alberta Hospital and they were immediately pulled from the Emergency Room.
Jamie had gone into cardiac arrest and CPR had been performed for 30 minutes.
He was shocked multiple times and his chest had been opened.
Blood was everywhere.
Someone yelled at her GIVE HIM A KISS AND TELL HIM YOU LOVE HIM. NOW!
She said…I didn’t even know if he was dead or alive when I ran to kiss him.
He was rushed up to the operating room.
Jenn collapsed on the floor; she couldn’t breathe.
She would have been admitted herself if her friend hadn’t insisted that he could calm her.
Seven hours later (or eight…her memory is blank here), she was allowed to see Jamie again.
He was in the Intensive Care Unit, hooked up to every machine possible…including ECMO (acts as an artificial heart and lung), an LVAD (for end-stage heart failure) and a ventilator (to assist with breathing).
He was sedated, and unbeknownst to her at the time, he wouldn’t wake up again for a month while his lungs and heart were being given a chance to recover.
Even though he suffered multiple strokes during this time (that affected the right side of his body), and was now also suffering from kidney failure which required dialysis…he started to show improvement ❤️
The doctors lifted the sedation.
Initially he was unable to move his arm or leg, but with his stubbornness and determination he had regained use of his right leg, he was able to move his right arm and was working on regaining the use of his right hand.
They were able to facetime with the kids and watch pumpkin carving…while tears were falling down Jamie’s face.
He watched the Oilers games in the hospital room with his friend and enjoyed every goal.
His trach was removed but his lungs filled with blood (because of all of the blood thinners required for the devices he is hooked up to) so it went back in the very next day.
They tried again, slower this time, and it was a success. He passed the swallow tests.
His friends, and Jenn, delivered on their promise of a Booster Juice as he had been asking for one for weeks! He ate real food. He was able to see, and talk with his sons ❤️❤️❤️
They all went home feeling hopeful.
One hour later, on November 8th, the hospital called to say that Jamie had had a seizure and had gone into cardiac arrest again.
He’s sedated again.
He’s back on every machine, again.
He does not qualify for a heart transplant because of the dialysis and the damage to the rest of his body.
Jamie worked at Pacesetter Homes here in Edmonton as a Site Super Intendent.
He is a real, down to earth, Alberta-made, guy.
He loves to bbq, go camping, and play card games with their friends.
He’s an amazing Dad. He loves his wife.
Just like my husband. Just like my brother.
Just like all of the guys in our lives.
Four years ago, Jenn’s Mom suddenly passed away. And then, her Dad, who suffered terribly from depression after his wife passed, died alone in his home…to be found by Jamie a few days later.
This left their family devastated.
A week prior to this, in the middle of the night…an out-of-control car, with a guy high on something, smashed into their garage at full speed. The car slammed through their garage and into the back entryway of their home.
Their oldest son was trapped in the basement.
Jamie went to chase the man down. The police helicopter continued the search (and the man was caught later that night).
Jenn had to crawl through a hole…foggy with confusion, drywall dust, broken boards, and glass to get to her screaming boy.
Everyone was full of terror. And trauma.
Their house took months to fix. It was a complete disaster.
But nothing, compares to the nightmare that she is living now.
How can one woman hold all of this on her shoulders?
Jamie is not getting better, and even though he is sedated, he has a sense of what is happening.
He can’t survive without support for his heart, but he doesn’t qualify for anything that will help him live.
He can’t stop crying.
He does not want to go.
The kids ask every day after they get home from school…did Dad wake up yet?
Is he still sleeping?
The hospital is asking for meetings.
It’s time.
Jenn and Jamie do not have a will and they also do not have life insurance. They may lose everything they have worked so hard to build.
He built their home, 14 years ago.
She needs grief counseling, badly. Her kids all need counseling.
She is going to have to learn how to drive.
They will lose all health benefits for prescriptions, and dental.
She will likely have to sell their home.
She will need to find the funds to pay for a funeral as well.
She is still trying to make Christmas happen for her kids.
The only thing her youngest son has asked for is his dad to be home at Christmas.
She will wait until after Tuesday night.
Her boys have a Christmas Concert at school and she wants them to have that memory before she has to tell them.
Before she has to do this.
The nurses have been incredible, and they will provide comfort care for Jamie after Jenn allows them to withdraw life support.
I sat with Jenn, and their family friend, to see if there was anything we could help with.
Tears were just gently falling down her cheeks and her friend had to speak for her a few times.
She is lost.
Jenn has decided she wants to try and plan a Celebration of Life shortly after Jamie passes to give everyone some closure. However, she isn’t sure how this will happen, she knows how much they cost.
But Jamie deserves this, she said.
I want the boys to have this.
A room full of people that love him.
I drive back to the shop with a very heavy heart. When I walk in and see Trevor, I burst into tears in front of our entire team.
How can this be happening?
She will never lean on her husband again?
We can’t fix this for them.
I am so sorry.
Everyone on our team was crying. Facing the wall. Walking away.
Jenn, we are so sorry.
We will cover ten thousand dollars for you to put towards the Celebration of Jamie’s life. The boys will have this.
You will have this.
We will also take care of Christmas morning for you. The gifts are already wrapped and the stockings are ready to be stuffed.
I am so sorry.
We will never forget Jamie. We will never forget you.
Tonight, I hope you and Jamie can feel the deep peace that we are all holding you in.
~ Amanda & Trevor Wilhauk
If you would like to help this family as well, we will make sure it gets to them.
They could really use:
~ Financial donations to help pay the mortgage so that they can stay in their home for as long as possible. EMT’s can be sent to: amanda@brickhousesmokery.com Please set the password to: jamieandjenn
~ Jenn runs a day home out of her house, and because she is self-employed she does not have benefits…but they need financial resources for grief counseling. Her biggest worry is her children’s mental health.
~ Driver training for her to help conquer her fear of driving.
~ She really needs a brand-new fridge. The water dispenser had been leaking for some time.
~ She needs new flooring and possibly a subfloor because of the water leak.
~ She needs a will, for herself
~ She needs your thoughts and prayers for peace, for Jamie, and for the boys ❤️
