A Middle Island father of two young children is in need of a heart transplant.

Lauren Robert’s husband, Brandon, first thought he had the flu. Then the night before Thanksgiving, he started feeling chest pains and a heaviness in his lungs.

The 45-year-old father of two young children was rushed to Mather Hospital – and then taken to Stony Brook University Hospital. Family members told News 12 that he had congestive heart failure. They also say he flatlined on Dec. 3 and doctors brought him back to life.

Robert was then transferred to New York Presbyterian Columbia Hospital, where doctors discovered he has a rare auto-immune disease.

“Giant cell myocarditis is a rare form of myocarditis, which results in acute heart failure, resulting in carcinogenic shock…It’s important to make a diagnosis as soon as possible because the mortality is very high,” said Dr. Marc Goldschmidt, a cardiovascular disease specialist at Stony Brook Heart Institute.

To make matters worse, family members say they are still waiting for Robert’s medical insurance to clear him to be added to the transplant list.

“He’s my only son and he’s a great guy. He’s a stellar human being,” said mother Kym Stanfield.

Robert is a support associate at Stony Brook University Hospital.

“He’s been at Stony Brook for 17 years. He’s been Employee of the Month. He’s a great dad. He’s a great husband. He’s a great son,” said Stanfield.

“Our Christmas has been ruined. All my friends came this morning, nine of them, to put up our Christmas lights. Everyone has been helping. The community has been amazing,” said Lauren Robert.

Lauren’s sister, Ashley Maini, shared her brother-in-law’s story on Facebook:

“Our family is big on prayer so I wanted to, by sharing this post, I wanted to get as many prayers as we could.”

News 12 reached out to Brandon Robert's medical insurance provider and are waiting to hear back.