Funeral and Medical Expenses for Wilber Amaya

Hi,

My name is Chavonne and this is my 21 year old stepson Wilber.

On May 29th of this year, he was in a horrible car accident that left him fighting for his life.

He was internally decapitated, meaning that his head and is spine were disconnected from the inside. We were told that it's a miracle that he made it to the hospital alive! I learned that less than 10% of people who have this type of injury pull through, well our boy, he made it through three surgeries and he was doing great! He had a plate put in to connect his spine back together and was in the hospital for a month before they transferred him to a nursing and rehabilitation center about 2 hours away from where we live.

He got to the nursing home on the 2nd of July, 2021 and he was doing awesome. He was able to move his left side of his body mainly, making eye contact and performing some tasks on demand when he wanted to. He came back down to the original hospital he was in so he could see his PCM on 27July. They said that he is doing great, but they had to insert a shunt to drain some of the fluid off of his brain. While he was down here he kept showing improvement, he was now able to move the right side of his body.

On the 5th of August, we received a call from the facility stating that Wilber had fallen out of bed and was being taken to the ER up there and was later discharged. He fell again the next night, Friday, but was not taken to the ER. We went for an unannounced visit on Saturday (Aug 7) and we were told that we can't just show up unannounced. We sat up there with our son all day and saw that he was following more commands and was even able to help re-adjust himself with our help.

He was supposed to have an appointment with his PCM on the 12th of August in Newport News, but the facility called and told us that he wasn't going to be transported for some reason. That same night, he was taken to a clinic up there for "abnormal lab results" and was found to be slightly dehydrated, requiring only 1L of fluid. The nurse who took care of our son was able to dress him with his help and advised that he was coherent and able to make eye contact and track objects. The next morning, his mom went up there to attempt to transfer him into another facility, but when she got there at 8 they made her wait outside, and she noticed that there was a lot of activity going on near his room. At 8:30 she was told that he had passed away.

This is Wilber in a picture taken a few days before with his mom.

We are asking for donations to help with the fee for an autopsy, funeral expenses and the hiring of a wrongful death lawyer. Any and all help is greatly appreciated. Thank you for reading his story.