Reaching Out to Friends and Family

As most of you already know, my oldest son, Joey Cipriani, was rushed to Putnam Hospital on March 25th unable to breathe. He was intubated there and later on that night was rushed to Westchester Medical Center to be put on ECMO, which puts oxygen into your blood. He had double pneumonia, sepsis, flu, and Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome also known as ARDS. At first the doctors thought he would need double lung transplants, but thankfully his lungs began to clear enough and weren't as damaged as they thought. The ECMO machine was removed in less than 2 weeks. The whole time he was on it, he was responding to commands and trying to communicate. A day or so after removing it, he wasn't responsive. A cat scan of his brain showed a stroke had occurred from a blood clot from the ECMO. It only showed damage to the back part of the brain. They tried doing an MRI and almost lost him. About a week later, they tried the MRI again and had to pull him out, almost lost him again. Finally, he got through the MRI. The stroke was throughout the brain. It was a big stroke. So, the machine that saved his life, caused a stroke. His right side was affected. About 2 weeks ago, the dressing was being changed on one of the sites in his chest where the ECMO was placed. Blood started pouring from the site. He lost a pint of blood in his room. Emergency surgery had to be done. Bypass surgery. On the opposite side of his chest where the other wound site is, about 5 days ago, a small aneurysm was found. Bypass surgery on that side too. He is slowly becoming responsive. Tiny steps each day. Bringing my granddaughter to see her Daddy seems to be one of the best medicines for him. It's going to be a very long recovery for him. We have no idea of knowing how much longer he'll be in the hospital and after the hospital, he'll go to a rehabilitation center to learn how to walk, talk, eat, etc. all over again. We have my granddaughter with us. My son has full custody of her and is an awesome Daddy. We are now taking care of her, getting her to school and going back and forth to the hospital as much as possible. We have fallen behind on everything. Lots of people reached out to us with food, gas cards, gift cards, money and even a one month parking pass for the hospital. We so appreciate it. I had a few friends convince me to start this campaign and not be ashamed to ask for some help, so here I am finally doing it. Prayers are needed, too. I believe that is what also has gotten us through this nightmare. Every little bit will help. Thank you and much love and gratitude to all.