COVID Survivor Needs Lung Transplant
Donation protected
On January 8th, our father, Enrique Garcia, was admitted to Beverly Hospital because he was experiencing shortness of breath and his blood saturation dropped to 91 (normal range 95-100). Our father had came out positive from COVID a week prior and was doing well but unfortunately one morning his body began to experience more severe symptoms. Without a doubt, we rushed him to the hospital and shortly after our lives turned upside down.
Our father, spent the first week being administered oxygen but as the weeks went by they had to increase his oxygen requirements due to his lungs requiring more support. Our dad spent one month on high flow oxygen and through all the ups and down we finally received good news that he was recovering well and was going to be discharged in the next couple of weeks. His oxygen intake was decreased and was a week shy from being discharged. Unfortunately, on February 14th at 1:00 AM, our father suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be intubated and was connected to a ventilator. Our family was destroyed as we were told we needed to wait to see if our dad would wake up again, and if so, there was a chance he could have suffered brain damage. We prayed for our dad to wake up again and God listened to us. We received a call that our dad opened his eyes that afternoon. Due to the COVID restrictions, it had been over a month since we last seen our father, so you can imagine the helplessness feeling we felt when we could not be there with him when he woke up. We FaceTimed with him everyday to insure he continued fighting and know that we were “there” fighting with him. For the weeks to come, we called 2-3 times a day asking for updates. We were told that he did not appear to have any brain damage from the cardiac arrest, so we thanked God and continued to pray he would be able to get weaned off the ventilator soon. As weeks went by, his doctors told us that they were going to begin the process of weaning him off the ventilator. Unfortunately, our dad’s lungs were too weak to push out his CO2 which meant weaning him off the ventilator would be more difficult. His doctors recommended performing a tracheotomy as it would give him a better chance of getting weaned off the ventilator. He spent another month in the hospital where they continued to stabilize him and help him adjust to the tracheostomy. Once our dad was cleared by the doctor, he was moved to a nursing facility where he would continue to recover and heal. It took 3 months for us to finally see our father, but once he was in the nursing facility we finally got the opportunity to hold his hand and be next to him. In the beginning, we were only allowed to visit outside his room’s glass doors, but that did not stop our mom from visiting him everyday. Once COVID restrictions lifted a bit more, we were allowed to visit him indoors for a limited amount of time.
Unfortunately, on May 1st, our dad had to be transferred to Greater El Monte Community Hospital due to his oxygen saturation fluctuating and not staying above 94. After speaking to his doctor, we were informed that our dad’s lungs had been completely destroyed from COVID and his best option would be a lung transplant. Our dad’s left lung is also being compressed by air bubbles and needs emergency surgery. Unfortunately, our dad is also undocumented and only qualifies for emergency medi-cal. Emergency medi-cal will not cover transferring him to USC Hospital and the surgery he desperately needs. Our dad migrated to the United States from Mexico over 25 years ago to give his family a better life. He always made sure we had a roof over our heads and food to eat each night. Our dad has worked 6 day weeks, 40+ hour weeks, and all with only two weeks of vacation each year since coming to the United States. Our dad has literally given up his life for the betterment of his 4 children, and that hard work has produced 4 college graduates. He also became a first time GRANDPA in 2020 and he would love to be able to see him grow up. Our dad is a fighter and is continuing to fight all these new challenges, but we need YOUR help to make sure we are able to give him the best chance to fight this. Our dad is only 51 years young, so we are hoping that he can get reevaluated for a lung transplant after we are able to raise enough funds for the emergency surgery he first requires.
We know that $250,000 may be wishful thinking but we want to give our dad a chance at life again. This has been the hardest 5 months for our family but we are not giving up this fight! If you cannot donate, please share. Also, if you have any past experiences or recommendations that could help please reach out to us.
Our dad is only 51 years old and has shown us he wants to continue fighting. Our dad always taught us that money should never stop us from achieving our dreams, but sadly money is what is stopping us from keeping him here with us. We are not ready to loose our dad and are asking for your help in saving our dad’s life.
We also accept Zelle, Venmo, or Cash donation.
Venmo: erwin1s
Cash & Venmo: please leave a message or reach us at Instagram: Jgarcia2421 for details.
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Our father, spent the first week being administered oxygen but as the weeks went by they had to increase his oxygen requirements due to his lungs requiring more support. Our dad spent one month on high flow oxygen and through all the ups and down we finally received good news that he was recovering well and was going to be discharged in the next couple of weeks. His oxygen intake was decreased and was a week shy from being discharged. Unfortunately, on February 14th at 1:00 AM, our father suffered a cardiac arrest and had to be intubated and was connected to a ventilator. Our family was destroyed as we were told we needed to wait to see if our dad would wake up again, and if so, there was a chance he could have suffered brain damage. We prayed for our dad to wake up again and God listened to us. We received a call that our dad opened his eyes that afternoon. Due to the COVID restrictions, it had been over a month since we last seen our father, so you can imagine the helplessness feeling we felt when we could not be there with him when he woke up. We FaceTimed with him everyday to insure he continued fighting and know that we were “there” fighting with him. For the weeks to come, we called 2-3 times a day asking for updates. We were told that he did not appear to have any brain damage from the cardiac arrest, so we thanked God and continued to pray he would be able to get weaned off the ventilator soon. As weeks went by, his doctors told us that they were going to begin the process of weaning him off the ventilator. Unfortunately, our dad’s lungs were too weak to push out his CO2 which meant weaning him off the ventilator would be more difficult. His doctors recommended performing a tracheotomy as it would give him a better chance of getting weaned off the ventilator. He spent another month in the hospital where they continued to stabilize him and help him adjust to the tracheostomy. Once our dad was cleared by the doctor, he was moved to a nursing facility where he would continue to recover and heal. It took 3 months for us to finally see our father, but once he was in the nursing facility we finally got the opportunity to hold his hand and be next to him. In the beginning, we were only allowed to visit outside his room’s glass doors, but that did not stop our mom from visiting him everyday. Once COVID restrictions lifted a bit more, we were allowed to visit him indoors for a limited amount of time.
Unfortunately, on May 1st, our dad had to be transferred to Greater El Monte Community Hospital due to his oxygen saturation fluctuating and not staying above 94. After speaking to his doctor, we were informed that our dad’s lungs had been completely destroyed from COVID and his best option would be a lung transplant. Our dad’s left lung is also being compressed by air bubbles and needs emergency surgery. Unfortunately, our dad is also undocumented and only qualifies for emergency medi-cal. Emergency medi-cal will not cover transferring him to USC Hospital and the surgery he desperately needs. Our dad migrated to the United States from Mexico over 25 years ago to give his family a better life. He always made sure we had a roof over our heads and food to eat each night. Our dad has worked 6 day weeks, 40+ hour weeks, and all with only two weeks of vacation each year since coming to the United States. Our dad has literally given up his life for the betterment of his 4 children, and that hard work has produced 4 college graduates. He also became a first time GRANDPA in 2020 and he would love to be able to see him grow up. Our dad is a fighter and is continuing to fight all these new challenges, but we need YOUR help to make sure we are able to give him the best chance to fight this. Our dad is only 51 years young, so we are hoping that he can get reevaluated for a lung transplant after we are able to raise enough funds for the emergency surgery he first requires.
We know that $250,000 may be wishful thinking but we want to give our dad a chance at life again. This has been the hardest 5 months for our family but we are not giving up this fight! If you cannot donate, please share. Also, if you have any past experiences or recommendations that could help please reach out to us.
Our dad is only 51 years old and has shown us he wants to continue fighting. Our dad always taught us that money should never stop us from achieving our dreams, but sadly money is what is stopping us from keeping him here with us. We are not ready to loose our dad and are asking for your help in saving our dad’s life.We also accept Zelle, Venmo, or Cash donation.
Venmo: erwin1s
Cash & Venmo: please leave a message or reach us at Instagram: Jgarcia2421 for details.
TFundraising team (2)
Julio Garcia
Organizer
Fullerton, CA
Enrique Garcia
Beneficiary
Viridiana Garcia
Team member
