{"id":141734,"date":"2025-03-22T14:24:16","date_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:24:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/?p=141734"},"modified":"2025-03-22T14:24:16","modified_gmt":"2025-03-22T19:24:16","slug":"nu-journal-sleepy-eye-man-needs-open-heart-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/nu-journal-sleepy-eye-man-needs-open-heart-surgery\/","title":{"rendered":"NU Journal: Sleepy Eye man needs open heart surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Metal scrap dealer Melvin Hoffman continues to work these days despite a serious health condition he was born with.<\/p>\n

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Hoffman works at New Ulm Steel & Recycling and recycles scrap metal with his son Dustin.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m old school. I like to work. I\u2019ve worked with broken legs. I\u2019m a stubborn old German. When I can\u2019t do it all, my boy (Dustin) helps,\u201d said Mel.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout a year ago, I got this cough and couldn\u2019t get rid of it. The doctor said I didn\u2019t have a cold. A heart test showed my aortic heart valve only had two flaps instead of three. It\u2019s been that way all my life,\u201d said Hoffman.<\/p>\n

Multiple medical tests later showed he has a heart condition known as bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital heart defect since birth, that he was not aware he had. His aortic heart valve had two flaps instead of three, that normal hearts have. The flaps, called cusps, ensure blood flows properly.<\/p>\n

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Hoffman was referred to Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis where open heart surgery will include placing a sleeve and replacing the heart valve.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Since his diagnosis, Hoffman has made multiple trips to doctor appointments, he\u2019s taken time off work and medical bills are increasing.<\/p>\n

Dustin Hoffman said the doctor told Mel not to lift more than 25 pounds of weight or the heart valve could pop and it could be fatal.<\/p>\n

The Sleepy Eye Knights of Columbus and First Security Agency of Sleepy Eye are sponsoring a benefit pancake breakfast for the Hoffman family, 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., Sunday, March 30 at the Sleepy Eye St. Mary\u2019s Social Room.<\/p>\n

A free will offering will be available. Donations can be made on the Sleepy Eye St. Mary\u2019s website and at Americana Community Bank and First Security Bank, Sleepy Eye; and SouthPoint Financial Credit Union, Sleepy Eye, New Ulm and Springfield. Checks can be made payable to Knights of Columbus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Metal scrap dealer Melvin Hoffman continues to work these days despite a serious health condition he was born with. Hoffman works at New Ulm Steel & Recycling and recycles scrap metal with his son Dustin. \u201cI\u2019m old school. I like to work. I\u2019ve worked with broken legs. I\u2019m a stubborn old German. When I can\u2019t …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":141735,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-141734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-e-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":true,"date":"2026-04-22 14:21:00","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141734"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":141736,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/141734\/revisions\/141736"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/141735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=141734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sleepyeyeonline.com\/goodnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=141734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}