Gus Aguirrechu

Hi, my name is Kris Aguirrechu. I am Gus’s oldest son. Unfortunately, on September 6th my dad tested positive for Covid. A week later, he ended up in the ICU due to double Covid pneumonia. Further complicating his healing process, my dad suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease that attacks the body’s joints and cartilage. The medication for the arthritis suppresses his immune system in order to slow the body from attacking itself which in turn left him vulnerable and unable to fight off the Covid pneumonia. After many attempts to get my dad’s oxygen saturation levels back to normal, nothing seemed to work. On September 30th, we had no other option but to have him intubated and put on a ventilator due to risk of him going into cardiac arrest. Thankfully everything went well with the procedure and he was then transferred to a specialty hospital that provides an advanced form of life support called VV ECMO. Since October 1st and almost one month of hospitalization, my dad has been fully reliant on this ECMO Life Support to work as his lungs and allows to give his heart a break from the stress of being on a ventilator. As we continue to pray and have his vitals monitored and kept stable, the ultimate goal is for the ECMO to allow his lungs and body to heal itself.

I’m starting this Go Fund Me to help my mom, Michelle with the financial responsibility of my dad’s unfortunate long-term situation. My mom is the strongest woman I know. She’s my dad’s best friend and beautiful wife of 35 years and has dedicated the last 40+ years to him and our family. Thanks to my father being the hardest worker I’ve ever known, as a proud FPL employee for 35 years, his life long goal and mission has always been to be able to be the sole provider for his family. This has allowed my mom to stay at home to care for Kevin and I throughout our entire childhood. We feel so blessed our dad is loved by all his coworkers and friends from high school. We’ve had such an outpouring of love and support from so many reaching out and asking if we need anything and praying for our family. We can’t express how grateful and thankful we are for this kind of support. It means the world to us.

I know my mother and father would never actually ask for financial assistance, but with something unexpected like this, I’d like to take away some of the financial burden from her plate and offer her some peace of mind. My dad’s short term disability only paying out 60% of my dad’s salary in just 2 short weeks is of concern, as well as medical bills I know are starting to come in. My brother and I are doing our best to help out with the monthly expenses during this time, but we are aware it is going to be a long road to my father’s recovery and the support we have from our loved ones will make all the difference in the world.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for anyone that finds it in their heart to donate no matter the amount and if you can’t donate please just keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers ❤️