FMF - Friends of Minerals Forum, discussion and message board

[BlueCapProductions]

Hello all. The following is a clip off of the main page of the What's Hot In Tucson (WHIT) site. This is NOT a promotion, it is an effort to provide the latest and most accurate information on what happened with David Wilber on the evening of February 15, 2009. I will be updating the WHIT site with any new information as I receive it. Any messages that you would like to deliver to Wilber can be posted here and I will read them to Dave during my daily calls. Thank you for your support!!

************************** POSTED ********************************
Many of you may have heard stories of Dave Wilber's collapse at the end of the 2009 show. To dispel any rumors and answer any questions, I have decided to post an update here on the What's Hot In Tucson website so that any misinformation is nipped in the bud.

As many of you know, Wilber's participation at the Tucson show goes FAR beyond his role as host of What's Hot In Tucson. During the break-down of the Main Show on February 15, 2009, Wilber pushed himself beyond his physical limitations while he was helping some of his friends tear down and pack up their displays.

At around 7:55PM on the 15th, I received a phone call from Brian Kosnar informing me that Wilber had collapsed outside of the Convention Center and that paramedics had arrived on the scene. Wilber was loaded into a waiting ambulance and immediately taken to nearby St. Mary's Hospital.

I arrived at the hospital about half and hour later and eventually was allowed to enter to visit Wilber. He was hooked up to all the typical monitoring machines and was doing very well despite being very weak.

Wilber was suffering from extreme dehydration, lack of proper nourishment and over exhaustion. All of this led to his fainting situation outside of the Convention Center.

Wilber DID NOT suffer from a heart attack, nor did he have a stroke.

I stayed with him until 11:30P (Keith Proctor was with us until around 11:00P) at which time he was pretty much sleeping comfortably. My wife and I had to return to Los Angeles on Monday so Herb and Moni Obodda took over the reins of caring for Wilber.

As of Tuesday afternoon, Wilber is still in the hospital as they are running a complete physical test of him to make sure they're not missing anything. I just got off the phone with him and he sounds great.

Many people have called with their concerns and well wishes for Wilber and everyone's thoughts and conerns are much appreciated.

If you have any questions or hear any rumors that do not properly relay these facts, please contact me via email at bryan at bluecapproductions_dotcom.

Thank you for all of your concern and support,

-Bryan Swoboda

[Peter Megaw]

Dave gave us a real scare...I was right behind him when he went down. Fortunately the Tucson Police officers who provide our security were right on hand and got the EMTs there in minutes. Fortunately Dave's condition was not critical, but it's nice to see such a speedy response...and know that if things had been worse it couldn't have happened in a better place!

Thanks to all for making Mineral Oddities a wonderful theme and demonstrating that our hobby (a weak word in this case) of mineral collecting is alive and well despite the troubled times.

[Jordi Fabre]

Bryan,

Great news! Thanks to share it with us.

Of course is not a promotion Bryan, and for sure if you wish to share with us your comments about your and Dave videos here, please do it. Them are great and very useful for people don't visiting Tucson Show.

Jordi

[Gail]

I love that big old bear of a man and am glad he is doing fine. He was pushing himself hard, and I admire him for it. His efforts ensure a wonderful legacy and thanks to you too Bryan.
I think everyone is pretty tired after the TGMS and the weeks prior. Kudos to Peter Megaw for his hard work and efforts also.
Get well Dave!!!!

[str4hler]

Dave Wilber is my mineral hero.
Everybody I know only desires to collect crystals -without- Wilbers.
But the mineral world needs Wilber !
So... take it slow, be well, and see you next year running around again in Tucson (I will carry the food&water)
Cheers!

[Peter]

Dave is a living legend!
R U back Str4hler?

[crocoite]

Its good to hear that things are ok with Dave. I am looking forward to this year's "What's Hot". As Jordi said, its a good way for those of us that could not be there to see what we have missed. Having said that, I was there in 2007 and there was A LOT of stuff on the 2007 DVD that I hadn't seen!

Regards
Steve

[John S. White]

Much relieved to learn that my dear friend Dave Wilber is okay. He has always pushed himself beyond limits that would kill most of us and I have always marvelled at his stamina, in addtion to his good humor and his depth of knowledge about collectible minerals, as well as glass paperweights, barbar bottles, agates, gemstones, etc.

Now, if he can just learn to take better care of himself!

[Brooks]

I met Dave Wilber at the 2008 Tucson main show. I was exhibiting my case of Montana Agates and I met Gail and Jim Spann who were looking at my case. Dave came over and they introduced me to him. We had a great conversation about agates. I knew he had a fine collection of Condor Agates that he exhibited at the same show a few years earlier. Even though I had seen him many times on DVDs and photos, it was indeed a pleasure to meet him in person. This man is a true treasure to our hobby. He has such a passion for what he does. After our meeting I made up my mind I was going to send him a Montana Agate for his collection. Once he received the agate, he called me personally to thank me and tell me how fine the specimen was. Believe me it was my pleasure to give something to someone who has really given of himself. I know we all hope Dave makes a full recovery and will be a constant fixture at many more shows.

[Jordi Fabre]

Bryan,

How is everything? Dave is feeling better?

Jordi

[BlueCapProductions]

Jordi,

Thank you for your concern. Dave is doing MUCH better now. He just had a pacemaker installed and he sounds better than he has sounded in weeks.

Here is the complete story of the latest Wilber happenings (and by the way, he thanks ALL of you for your support and concern):

********* February 23, 2009 UPDATE*************
We had a bit of a worry last week. Herb Obodda picked up Wilber from the hospital last Wednesday (2/18) and took him back to his house. Apparently everything seemed to be going well and the hospital made some slight adjustments to the medications Wilber was taking.

The next morning Herb got a call from Wilber telling him that he felt really, really weak. Herb immediately went back over to Dave's house and re-admitted him into the hospital. More tests were done and the results pointed to Wilber's abnormal heart rhythm (called atrial fibrillation) that we had all known about.

Wilber has had a leaky heart valve for a while and doctors were trying to treat it with drugs instead of performing open-heart surgery - a much more invasive procedure.

The fine doctors at St. Mary's determined that a lot of Wilber's weakness in recent years (including the fainting at the end of the Main Show) was due to this erratic heartbeat. By performing some stress tests on Wilber, they discovered that his heart rate was occasionally dipping down to 50 to 37 beats per minute (normal for an adult male is 70bpm when resting).

On Friday morning I talked to Wilber just before he was scheduled for surgery to have a new pacemaker installed. This pacemaker would be a booster pacemaker that would only kick in if his heart rate dipped below 60bpm.

When I spoke to Wilber again on Saturday evening, the pacemaker had been installed and it was a great success. He sounded better than he had sounded in weeks. It looks like everything is going to be just fine for our Mr. Wilber and I told him about everyone's messages of a quick and full recovery. That brightened his spirits so THANK ALL OF YOU for your continued support!!

[str4hler]

That's good news!
He will now outrun us all on the floor of Tucson-2010 :)
Cheers!

[Peter]

Good news! Tha world has progressed in some medical areas at least!

[Linda Smith]

Just returned from my trip to Tucson. Glad to hear he is better. We need him. My good wishes go to him.

[Jordi Fabre]

A friend, Paco, just sent to me a nice picture of Dave during his visit to my room during Tucson Show. I can't resist to publish it here. Hopefully Dave be relaxed at his home now, enjoying the life, the minerals, and...this picture! ;-)