Help for Maria following amputation
Donation protected
- Hi, my name is Denise and I am fundraising for my long time friend Maria Varkonyi Pacheco. I have known Maria since grade school. We both attended Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal school and Christ the King High School. Maria is currently in Long Island Jewish Hospital recovering from a foot amputation which has been a tremendous blow to her. Maria entered the hospital on July 17th after an infection from a cut on her foot. She had 2 toes amputated at first and was sent to a rehabilitation center. While there, she was sent back to the ER with an infection. She was told that she had antibiotic resistant gangrene and would need another amputation. Maria had her whole foot amputated on Sept 16th. On Sept 21st, she had a 3rd surgery to close the wound and create a flap for a prosthesis. The surgeon found that during the surgery, she would need more amputated due to the lack of circulation in her leg to heal the wound and cut just below her calf. While in the hospital, Maria was also told she had an enlarged heart and scarring and would need to go to the cardiac care center. All of this has been very hard for Maria to cope with on top of the problems she has already been facing. Maria has been suffering for many years with degenerative disk disease and has had tremendous pain from it. She also deals with crippling anxiety and depression. Her back pain started in 2008/2009 and forced her to officially go on disability. She could no longer do many things we take for granted like, standing, walking and sitting for more than a few minutes at a time. This prevented shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc. This situation only worsened her depression and anxiety. Leaving her with dark thoughts at times. Life has not been easy for Maria. She has been overcoming tragedy and hardship for most of her life. She married straight out of high school to a man 13 years her senior to escape her parents who were verbally abusive to her. What she thought was her happily ever after, turned into a nightmare. Her husband became physically and verbally abusive just 2 weeks after their marriage. Maria suffered many of his beatings and still managed to go to St John's University and get a degree. She got the courage to leave her abusive husband 3 1/2 years after they married. Maria found love again in 1994 and they had a son together. Tragically, he lost his life on January 9th 2002 when their son was just 6 years old. Maria had to find the strength to go on and raise their son alone because no one on either side of the family offered or provided any help especially with taking care of her son while she worked. Luckily she had 2 friends who offered to divide the days and watched her son from after school until she got home from work. At the funeral, Maria met a man who was her spouse's friend and who knew her son. He would sporadically call to ask about her son and offered to spend some time with him. Her spouse was the stay at home parent so her son was missing that constant male presence. The friend started to go over and she and he felt an automatic strong connection. They married the same year and Maria welcomed a second son into her life the following year. Maria had so many dreams growing up. She wanted to join the marines and see the world. Her parents did not support that dream. As she got older, her dreams were simpler. She wanted to own her own home. Raising a young son alone, she was never able to make that dream a reality. Saving enough money to go on a dream trip to Hungary was something she managed to accomplish. It's the first time I remember her sounding happy and excited. Even though she was still dealing with bad back pain, she was so optimistic about her dream trip. Unfortunately, she never got to go on that trip. Covid struck months before she was to go and she had to cancel it. The money she saved is now long gone. Maria still has a long road of healing and rehabilitation ahead of her. Please help me raise money to assist Maria in her recovery and maybe to fulfill a few new dreams. No amount is too small. Everything and anything will be so greatly appreciated. Donations can be made anonymously for anyone who doesn't feel comfortable making their donation amount or name public. Please help spread this campaign through your own Facebook and Instagram accounts.
Organizer and beneficiary
Denise Parente
Organizer
North Bellmore, NY
Maria Pacheco
Beneficiary