Know Me 4 My Ability Not Disability

My name is Paula Cristina. I am Bruno Domingos girlfriend and I'm here to ask the community to help raise funds for him. Let's go back in time to April 11th, 2016. We were excited to go on a much needed, long awaited vacation - our stop, Varadero, CUBA. We decided to bring along my youngest daughter, Keila, who is 24 yrs old and has never been on vacation. We were like the 3 musketeers, always together. Upon arriving, we checked in, didn't do much because we wanted to rest and start fresh in morning. The next day (April 12th) we woke up, ate breakfast and then decided to check out the beach. I'm not a swimmer, however with much convincing, Bruno got me to step into water. It was a bit chilly so he went in while I stayed at shoreline. As he's getting further into the water, he yells out "Hey babe you're right, it is a bit chilly!". So he decides to get his body used to the water temperature and gets his body wet. Unbeknown to me, he actually hit his head on the ocean floor and ended up breaking his neck (which we never found out until a few days later). Bruno had a horrible experience at the hospital(s) in Cuba. There was no neck brace (sometimes having to hold his head with nothing but two water bottles on both sides), no food, dirty blood stained blankets, no water, no phone, no internet, lizards crawling on the ceiling, etc. The ambulance driver didn't even attend to Bruno, as he was passed out sleeping (which I caught on video). My daughter had to stay behind at the resort all alone as we were shipped out to 3 different hospitals about an hour and a half away. We had travel insurance, thank God, however it only covered costs in Cuba. Once you leave the country all other costs cease to exist. We could never get through to a landline or internet. In order to communicate with my daughter, I had to painfully leave Bruno behind and get a taxi which I ended up paying $100.00 each way so that I could update her. Then I got the worst possible news that anyone could give me - the sad realization that he became paralyzed from his chest down. At times I still can't even believe these turns of events. I sit down in a state of shock. Omg how do I tell his family, his children, his friends, but most of all how do I break it to him? On the second night at the hospital he stopped having any feeling from his chest down, there was alot of swelling, which we never thought that he could remain paralyzed, we thought it had to be spinal shock and that his feeling would return.. sadly until today it has not. Finally after 4 horrible days there, we were able to arrange a pickup via airlift back home to Canada. He was admitted into St. Michaels Hospital - Neurotrauma Intensive Care Unit, and did emergency surgery to put his head back onto his spine, where they put metal plates, which today he still suffers from being able to hold his head up. They put him into a medical coma just under a month so that he could recover, however that stay in ICU resulted in him having pretty bad pneumonia which put him in isolation for a long time. After 3 months in ICU, they have placed him in rehab (The Lyndhurst Centre), where he is today. We still dont have a place to live as the waiting lists are pretty long, I had to move out of his apartment which was in a basement during his stay at ICU. I moved back to my moms, so now I have to commute each day to see him. Since he has no benefits from his job as a truck driver (which now they took away his license as well), he feels like everything was taken away from him - his legs, his license, his life... This isn't easy and I've never missed one day of being by his side, he's had tremendous support from family and friends. I've learned to be his caregiver, I've learned how to do most of what the nurses do for him and I wouldn't have it any other way. This man is a big teddy bear with a tremendeous heart, anyone that knows him knows that he would take off his shirt for anyone in need. Now I am asking all his friends and supporters, in this time of need, there are so many things that Bruno needs to help him continue to battle this unfortunate incident (power chair, mattress, lifter, etc). Things that I cannot possibly do all alone. I would like to ask for any donation, big or small, anything helps and is appreciated. He is an inspiration to me, him having this disability and yet he's still more worried for me than himself - makes me love him and respect him even more. To me he is still the same man that I fell in love with, yes he has a disability and that's ok with me. We can still do things we did before except now we'll just do it different. Please help him achieve his goals in life. A little help goes a long way. Thank you for taking the time to hear our story. God bless.