Frank Fabian has worked in the exhibit industry for 19. years. He started in 1998 as a Design Intern for Exhibit Design Consultants in Grand Rapids, MI, and worked his way up to Director of Design, In 2013, he left EDC to start Fab Creative LLC, a design company that focuses on creating custom exhibit and environments design and production to end clients and design services to other exhibit companies, as well as other creative services such as digital marketing and illustration.
On February 4, 2016, Frank was relaxing on his couch when he was suddenly hit with excruciating pain in his chest. He was rushed to the hospital and, while he was not presenting with the typical symptoms of a heart attack, he was in terrific pain and had lost all feeling in his legs and was unable to walk. At the hospital he was immediately diagnosed as having an aortic dissection. The dissection was the result of an undiagnosed aortic aneurysm that had burst and has caused the inside of the aorta to split in two. While normally fatal, Frank had been blessed with a strong constitution and a terrific team of thoracic surgeons.
Frank spent 13 months in the hospital dealing with numerous complications from the dissection. While the surgeons were able to remove deadly blood clots and return circulation to his arms, they were not able to return adequate circulation to his legs. Frank’s legs were amputated above the knee as a life-saving procedure. In March 2017 Frank finally was able to return home in time to celebrate his youngest daughter’s birthday.
In addition to being out of work for 13 months without an income, Frank has incurred mounting medical bills. Additionally as a bilateral amputee, Frank’s home and car now require a number of modifications for him to continue to work, live and provide for his family.
