I'm Eleni Kelakos, and I've created this fundraising campaign to help my brother, George Kelakos, rehabilitate fully-- and with as little financial worry as possible-- from a months-long battle with Covid-19. On November 11, 2020, George was taken to the emergency room fighting to breathe, with a dangerously low blood oxygen level. He was put on a ventilator a week later. For two months, he remained in an induced coma, fighting Covid-related onslaughts to his kidneys, heart, and lungs, and multiple infections. He came way too close to dying several harrowing times. Remarkably (and miraculously) he survived (his doctors call him a "warrior"-- and his inspiring story has even caught the attention of the media). After 146 days George is finally out of the hospital and in a rehabilitation facility, where his real work has just begun: Engaging in intensive physical and occupational therapy to regain strength, muscle mass, and movement after months of lying flat on his back and being on paralytic drugs while intubated.

While George is slowly regaining lung capacity, and starting to be able to use his arms and hands, he has virtually no leg strength. He can only get out of bed and stand briefly with mechanical help. The reality is that he has a long road ahead of him, many months until he can resume working full-time in his practice as a cross-border legal advisor (on top of already being sick and unable to work for the past six months). From a financial standpoint, this is devastating for George -- he is a solo practitioner and does not have the ability to have others do his specialized work. As the bills pile up (expected, and unexpected, medical and otherwise) so does George's level of stress and worry which gets in the way of his recovery.

We want George to be able to focus on the one thing he needs to do above all else: Get himself back to optimum physical health. The results of this fundraiser will give him the comfort of knowing he can take the time he needs to fully rehabilitate himself (even in the face of the very real possibility that his insurance company pulls the plug on his coverage when he has more months of rehab to go, and he is forced to pay almost $20,000/month out-of-pocket to stay in the facility). We're hoping to collect the funds we seek by June 1st, 2021. Because the sooner we do, the sooner George can stop worrying and concentrate on his rehabilitation.

This fundraiser was created for those of you in George's global community who have asked "What can I do to help?" Your outpouring of prayers and love served to keep George fighting and alive. Now he needs a different kind of support. While George has a lot of pride, he recognizes that he sorely needs financial help. He has spent most of his life giving to others, on many levels, and is now having to learn to literally lie back and let others give to him. As he put it "I've come away from this experience with a new perspective on the beauty of life, and on relationships. Until this happened, I didn't realize I had so many friends. And I'm so thankful for their support." We hope you can find a way to contribute at any level that is comfortable for you. Thank you for helping to take the burden of worry off of George's shoulders, so he can do the hard work of healing from was has undoubtedly been the worst ordeal of his life.