Aurelio Farro's Battle with Encephalitis
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Hi Everyone, I'm AnnaMaria and I'm Aurelio Farro's daughter here to tell his story, raise awareness, and get the support my father needs.
This past October and to present day my father has been fighting a serious battle with a rare brain infection called HSV-1 Encephalitis. October 8, 2020 my father fainted and fell hitting his head extremely hard, thankfully he was with my Godfather who tried calling an ambulance but he refused. My mother took him to our primary doctor and he ran an EKG stating my father was having a heart attack. Little did we know this incident was going to turn out to be something entirely different...
October 8th my father was admitted, he was discharged October 13th after having been checked out and seemingly fine to the doctors. That night of the 13th, 14th, and 15th my father began running a high fever and started saying strange things and showing signs of confusion/personality changes. October 15th we brought him back to the ER as he was complaining of burning stomach pains and was running a fever of 102.2. He was discharged later that evening after various tests, having been told nothing was wrong with him and the tests came back clear.
Friday, October 16th my father slept most of the morning until late afternoon. He woke up and actually stood up for the first time on his own since the first hospitalization. He acted more like himself that afternoon, but out of nowhere, standing in the center of the kitchen he suddenly complained of a horrible headache. He went to sit down and there was the most traumatic thing I've ever witnessed in my entire life. We called the ambulance worried my father was having a stroke or a possible seizure, but much to our knowledge this was the beginning of his battle with HSV-1 Encephalitis.
To this day, my father is hospitalized going on almost four weeks now, he was intubated and placed into a drug-induced coma due to suffering from status epilepticus, and now is awake but had a tracheostomy placed where he has now shown better support for his own breathing though still on a ventilator. We're told this is a day by day recovery process. He was showing great signs of improvement, no seizures, blowing my mom kisses and he even gave me a smile reassuring me he remembered who I was. Unable to speak these are the ways we try to communicate with him and be as supportive as possible. Reminding him we're with him along the way and will do whatever it takes. He will most likely be unable to work for quite some time, and is going to need extensive physical and possible cognitive therapy in rehabilitation.
As most of you know my father, Aurelio, either by work, by family, or even just in passing you know he's a fighter, a warrior, a goofball, hard worker, loving supportive father, loving supportive husband, and always willing to lend a hand to do anything for anyone!! He's an amazing human being and at this time we need as much love, support, and prayers to hopefully getting him to the recovery we truly hope for.
My father is my best friend, and my Mother's love of her life. He is our absolute WORLD, and I truly hope you can all show your support by prayer, by love, by sharing his story, and hoping for a good overall positive recovery just as my mother and I do. We can't wait until he can be home again with us, so I ask all of you please spread awareness of this rare infection, HSV-1 Encephalitis, that affects such a minimal amount of people but has very dangerous and serious outcomes. We are so grateful for each and every one of you and truly want you along this journey with us to help my father recover and bring his old self back as much as we possibly can.
I'll be keeping this up-to-date for those of you following us on his state and hopefully later on his recovery process. A huge thank you to the amazing doctors and nurses caring for my father at Morristown Medical Center and for giving us the help and hope we all truly need. Lots of Love to each and every one of you, and God Bless.
AnnaMaria
This past October and to present day my father has been fighting a serious battle with a rare brain infection called HSV-1 Encephalitis. October 8, 2020 my father fainted and fell hitting his head extremely hard, thankfully he was with my Godfather who tried calling an ambulance but he refused. My mother took him to our primary doctor and he ran an EKG stating my father was having a heart attack. Little did we know this incident was going to turn out to be something entirely different...
October 8th my father was admitted, he was discharged October 13th after having been checked out and seemingly fine to the doctors. That night of the 13th, 14th, and 15th my father began running a high fever and started saying strange things and showing signs of confusion/personality changes. October 15th we brought him back to the ER as he was complaining of burning stomach pains and was running a fever of 102.2. He was discharged later that evening after various tests, having been told nothing was wrong with him and the tests came back clear.
Friday, October 16th my father slept most of the morning until late afternoon. He woke up and actually stood up for the first time on his own since the first hospitalization. He acted more like himself that afternoon, but out of nowhere, standing in the center of the kitchen he suddenly complained of a horrible headache. He went to sit down and there was the most traumatic thing I've ever witnessed in my entire life. We called the ambulance worried my father was having a stroke or a possible seizure, but much to our knowledge this was the beginning of his battle with HSV-1 Encephalitis.
To this day, my father is hospitalized going on almost four weeks now, he was intubated and placed into a drug-induced coma due to suffering from status epilepticus, and now is awake but had a tracheostomy placed where he has now shown better support for his own breathing though still on a ventilator. We're told this is a day by day recovery process. He was showing great signs of improvement, no seizures, blowing my mom kisses and he even gave me a smile reassuring me he remembered who I was. Unable to speak these are the ways we try to communicate with him and be as supportive as possible. Reminding him we're with him along the way and will do whatever it takes. He will most likely be unable to work for quite some time, and is going to need extensive physical and possible cognitive therapy in rehabilitation.
As most of you know my father, Aurelio, either by work, by family, or even just in passing you know he's a fighter, a warrior, a goofball, hard worker, loving supportive father, loving supportive husband, and always willing to lend a hand to do anything for anyone!! He's an amazing human being and at this time we need as much love, support, and prayers to hopefully getting him to the recovery we truly hope for.
My father is my best friend, and my Mother's love of her life. He is our absolute WORLD, and I truly hope you can all show your support by prayer, by love, by sharing his story, and hoping for a good overall positive recovery just as my mother and I do. We can't wait until he can be home again with us, so I ask all of you please spread awareness of this rare infection, HSV-1 Encephalitis, that affects such a minimal amount of people but has very dangerous and serious outcomes. We are so grateful for each and every one of you and truly want you along this journey with us to help my father recover and bring his old self back as much as we possibly can.
I'll be keeping this up-to-date for those of you following us on his state and hopefully later on his recovery process. A huge thank you to the amazing doctors and nurses caring for my father at Morristown Medical Center and for giving us the help and hope we all truly need. Lots of Love to each and every one of you, and God Bless.
AnnaMaria
Organizer
AnnaMaria Farro
Organizer
East Hanover, NJ