Hawaiian Surf Royalty Clyde Aikau Hospitalized in Las Vegas

Clyde Aikau, the younger brother of legendary Hawaiian waterman Eddie Aikau, has been hospitalized in Las Vegas requiring open heart surgery.

According to the family, Uncle Clyde was in Sin City for a work trip. After dinner one night, he collapsed after leaving a restaurant, and doctors found an aneurysm in his aortic valve, which led to the emergency surgery.

A GoFundMe account has been assembled by the family to help pay for the staggering medical bills. The target goal is $200,000, and at the time of publishing, they’ve raised just over $14k.

The description on the crowdfunding page reads:

“Aloha, on behalf of the Aikau Ohana we would like to ask for your help to cover some overwhelming medical bills as Uncle Clyde recovers from Open Heart surgery in Las Vegas. For those of you who don’t know what happened, last week while on a work trip at a hawaii convention at the Westgate in Las Vegas.. Uncle Clyde collapsed shortly after leaving a restaurant that night. After being taken to the hospital they found an Aneurysm in his Aortic Valve. A blessing in disguise that they caught it, but that discovery led to an Emergency Open Heart Surgery. Uncle Clyde is currently recovering in a hospital in Las Vegas. As you can imagine these medical bills are already piling up, we still need to get him home, and we don’t know when he will be able to return to work. Please help us support The Aikau Ohana Financially here! Anything helps.”

One of the top donors was Kelly Slater with $1,000; Shaun Tomson threw down $500; and the most recent winner of the 2023 Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational, Luke Shepardson, dipped into his $10,000 winnings and gave $250.

Over the years, Clyde has been a pillar in the Hawaiian surf community, organizing the famed Eddie Aikau Big Wave Invitational at Waimea Bay in honor of his late brother. Back in 1986, he won the contest. And he surfed in the event up until 2016, when he was 66 years old, still packing bombs with the best of ‘em.

Support the GoFundMe here; prayers for Uncle Clyde.

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