Hi my name is Patrick O’Connor. On January 27th of this year, my father, Pat O’Connor sr. was having a normal evening at home when he was hit with an intense headache. Quickly, my mother, Lucia, realized this was not an ordinary headache and called 911.

As Pat rapidly became unresponsive, he was rushed to the hospital and underwent life saving emergency surgery to remove a blood clot in his brain. He had a massive hemorrhagic stroke in his cerebral cortex.

Pat spent three weeks in the ICU and 5 weeks total in the hospital before being transferred to a skilled nursing home where he spent 8 months.

Pat lost his ability to swallow and has been on a feeding tube ever since. He cannot walk yet and has little mobility or fine motor control.

But at long last, after getting him medically fit enough and after completing renovations to their house, we were able to bring Pat home last week!

In the past 8 months Pat has made tremendous progress with both his cognitive and physical abilities and he is so happy to be home. Neither of my parents have been able to earn an income as Lucia is his primary caregiver. Working with his insurance company to get him all the care and therapy he needs has been a struggle from the beginning. He needs additional professional caregivers as well as physical, occupational, and speech therapists to help him continue to heal and recover the basic functions of life. We are so grateful for any help, financial or other. It will be essential in helping Pat and Lucia weather this crisis. From my family to yours, thank you for your support.