Pay It Forward - 5 Minutes Away

The Need

Brian Laitsch and his friend Rob Wiese were “little jokesters” when they met at 12 years old, getting sent to a special class together after cutting up in school. They remained fast friends and were college roommates. Nearly a decade later, Brian got a text from his brother that Rob was fighting for his life back in their hometown near Milwaukee, Wis.

As Rob tells it, it all came out of nowhere. What he thought was a pulled leg muscle, and then a backache, turned out to be a pulmonary embolism – sending a blood clot from his leg to his lungs. Heading out to work one morning, Rob fell unconscious in the parking garage of his apartment. To this day, he doesn’t know the name of the good Samaritan from his building who found him and called 911.

Doctors later told him if the ambulance had taken 5 minutes longer, he wouldn’t be here.

The Impact

“He’s a great guy, always lights up the room,” comments Rob’s longtime friend Brian, a mortgage loan officer at Bell. “My first instinct was to see how I could help. How much is this going to cost him to go through this?” When it became clear Rob was going to make it, Brian started to pool Pay It Forward funds with his co-workers – ultimately raising nearly $5,000.

Rob had been placed on ECMO life support and was flown to a nearby hospital with a top-notch cardiovascular team. As emergency personnel cared for him that day, Rob went into cardiac arrest 5 times. For the next two weeks, he was mostly unconscious. Once he awakened, his recovery started with a series of small victories – first sitting up, then standing. Spurred on by his physical therapist and a favorite workout song by Eminem, Rob finally took a few steps. Once he was home home, taking a single lap in his apartment hallway left Rob as exhausted as if he’d just run a mile. But he kept getting better and began pushing for more steps, adding the stairs as he got back to walking normally.

Along with rehabilitation milestones, Rob celebrated his 30th birthday with friends. Brian pulled Rob aside and handed him an envelope, telling Rob he could just open it later.

“When I opened It, I was just shocked,” Rob relates. “For Brian to organize [a $5,000 gift], it means so much to me. … Not to mention, he put together a video montage of all my friends saying nice things. I can’t watch that to this day without crying.”

Months prior, Rob had been planning to try running his first triathlon with a group of his buddies. Now that he’s back to 100%, that plan is on again. Rob and friends plan to run a triathlon next year – the same one he had in mind the day he came within minutes of taking his last breath.

“It’s a reminder to live life to the fullest,” Rob says. “[I know] how thankful I am. But it was also another nice reminder of, ‘Hey, what got you here?’ Because I always want to make sure I keep that top of mind.”

Through the Pay It Forward program, Bell gives employees money each year to donate to people in need and causes they care about.