Donate to Torey Calderon's Recovery Fund

Hi, my name is Tara Calderon and I am creating this GoFundMe on behalf of my son, Torey Calderon.

Torey is 32 years old. He was born and raised here in Naples, FL. He graduated from Palmetto High School in 2010 with honors. He was accepted to the University of Tampa where he graduated with a degree in secondary social sciences. He moved back to Naples and began his career at Immokalee Middle School as an eighth grade US history teacher. He has remained at Immokalee Middle School for the last 10 years.

This past December 2023, Torey was not feeling well. After a couple trips to NCH, they discovered that Torey’s liver was failing. We discovered that he had something called hemochromatosis which basically is a genetic condition that causes too much iron in the blood. He was transferred to Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida, and in January was the recipient of a new liver. The doctors at the time suggested that he have a gastric sleeve. They felt that it would give his liver the best chance at a longer life if he had it done at the same time so he agreed to it.

Since then, Torey has had many complications, including bacterial infections, fungus infections, E. coli, two different types of viruses, including viral meningitis a collapsed lung and several procedures in an additional surgery to fix a bowel perforation and also a leak.

He came home briefly at the beginning of May, and then started having leaks in some drains that he had in his stomach areas which turned into another infection causing him to be intubated again for another three weeks.

At that point, the doctors decided that they needed to do a tracheotomy in order to get him off of the ventilation. In the meantime, he has slowly been recuperating. They were able to wean him off the vent with the trach and had started to show signs of improvement, he was then moved to Memorial Rehabilitation Center also on the East Coast of Florida within four days. He was unresponsive and moved back to Cleveland Clinic where he currently is. They discovered that a vessel that supplies blood to the liver was clogged and causing toxicity and his ammonia levels were very high. He’s had numerous other complications that I haven’t even listed here including a reaction to the initial medication for the anti-rejection medication for the liver. He has been fighting super hard and it has been a long and emotional roller coaster.

Torey has been on FMLA leave from his work since January. We have recently been informed that if he cannot return to work by September 16 of 2024 that he will need to resign from his position. At this point, Torey is not able to stand or walk on his own. He still not even fully coherent at this point so we believe that will NOT be achieved. In order to keep his insurance we would need to pay $875 a month plus I don’t even know how much more for his hospital indemnity plan and his short term and long care insurance. Torey has other personal bills that will need to be paid and kept up until such time as he can rehabilitate and get back to work. His medical bills are now in the multiple millions of dollars we cannot afford to lose his insurance nor his hospital indemnity plan. I myself am on Social Security disability I’m not even able to travel to be with him. His father and I will do whatever we can to help him but financially, we certainly need the help. Please help us help him. I know that if we come together as a community, we can get him to the other side and he will come back strong. Thank you.