Vadim Kondratyuk Anatoliyevich, a 26-year-old father and truck driver from Antelope, California, was making a trip across the country to New York when he suddenly felt too weak to drive. Realizing he could go no further, he reached out to his family for help. Anatoliyevich’s older brother Miroslav made the long journey to bring him home, but had to stop and check Anatoliyevich into a Utah hospital. Hours later doctors contacted his wife Nataliya and told her Anatoliyevich had only hours to live.
Nataliya was in shock at the news. “The doctor said tonight is the night he’s gonna die, because we did everything we can and nothing seems to work. It’s just the bacteria and the infection keeps growing to his lungs and they can’t clean it out,” Nataliya told ABC News.
The infection in his lungs had spread from an infected tooth over a period of two weeks and eventually reached his heart. According to Nataliya, Anatoliyevich had visited his dentist who cleaned the tooth and prescribed antibiotics when it first started hurting.
By the time the brothers reached the hospital in Utah the infection had already spread too far. The antibiotics were not strong enough to battle the sever infection and Anatoliyevich’s heart could not keep up with the strain.
Anatoliyevich died on January 30th, 2017, two weeks after his tooth first started hurting. He is survived by his wife, now a single mother, and his two daughters Vanessa, 2, and Maya, 11 months. Family and friends have started a GoFundMe page to help raise money for Nataliya and the two little girls. As of the the writing of this story, $154,640 of the $250,000 goal has been raised.
Vadim Kondratyuk Anatoliyevich will be laid to rest in Citrus Heights, California on February 3rd, 2017. Please keep his young wife and children in your thoughts and prayers.