Help Javier Campos after Life-Saving Brain Surgery

Just when life seemed at peace and everything was in its order, disaster struck.

It happened on the evening of August 3, 2024, just 72 hours after our family gathered at JFK to bid farewell to my brother Dylan as he embarked on a prestigious fellowship to pursue a year-long international research project. It was just two weeks after I had shown my family around my workplace in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village and enjoyed a long-awaited family meal at Mikhuy in Park Slope, Brooklyn, steps from where I live. And it was only two months after we celebrated a wonderful weekend at Wesleyan University in Middletown, CT, marking both my five-year reunion and my brother’s commencement. In an instant, our lives were changed.

My father, Javier Campos, suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured brain aneurysm. It was a Saturday night, and the attack came without any warning, swift and sudden. My father lay unresponsive in bed at home while my mother urgently called the paramedics, seeking emergency aid.

Unlike many who suffer from aneurysms, my dad had no pre-existing conditions, no history of high blood pressure, and no reports of migraines or head pain. We soon learned that his condition was caused by an AVM, or arteriovenous malformation, a rare condition where a group of blood vessels forms incorrectly, typically during development before birth or shortly after. That is to say, his accident couldn’t have easily been prevented or predicted.

My father spent 24 days at Yale New Haven Hospital, 21 of which he spent in the Neuro-intensive care unit or Neuro-ICU. Most of his days at Yale were spent unconscious on a ventilator, either due to his own inability to wake up or because he was kept in a medically induced coma. Towards the end of his stay, he underwent a tracheostomy to provide him with a breathing tube as he was gradually weaned off of the ventilator, and a gastrostomy for a feeding tube. This marked a period of stability in his health and the beginning of his recovery.

Today, he is at Gaylord, a rehabilitative facility in Wallingford, CT, and has made remarkable progress in just a short time. His doctors have informed me that he will soon have his breathing and feeding tubes removed. He is now speaking and communicating verbally, and is receiving speech, occupational, and physical therapy to accelerate his recovery.

Modern medicine is truly a marvel and a gift to our society. I am indebted to the medical professionals who have played a crucial role in my father’s medical stability and recovery. Even those with whom I had disagreements and debates, because I am my father’s fiercest advocate, have contributed significantly to his care. We are fortunate to live in an area with abundant medical resources, which has allowed my father to receive exceptional care and attention, helping him reach the progress he has made today.

My father is 56 years old and works as a delivery driver for UPS, where he is a member of Teamsters Union Local 443. He loves his job and the community he serves in West Haven, CT, including the University of New Haven, Notre Dame-West Haven High School, and the West Haven Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital. Born in Lima, Peru, to a single mother who worked as a schoolteacher, he immigrated to the United States and has lived in the New Haven area for 35 years, with 22 of those years in Branford, CT.

My parents raised my brother and me in Branford, proudly supporting us through the local public school system, Wesleyan University, and New York University. They have been active supporters and community members, backing youth organizations such as the Branford Soccer Club, World Champion Taekwondo, and Branford High School’s Choral, Concert Band, Marching Band, Performing Arts, varsity swim and tennis teams, and Model Congress programs.

Given the current circumstances, we are reaching out to our community for urgent financial assistance. My father is the primary financial supporter of our family, and the mounting expenses of his absence from work, combined with the anticipated costs for any necessary disability accommodations or accessibility needs, are significant. As I shuttle from New York to Connecticut to care for my family, the financial and emotional strain is increasing.

Your support will help cover these expenses and ease the burden during this challenging time, allowing us to focus on my father’s recovery and well-being.

They say it takes a village to raise a child; I believe it also takes a village to care for our aging, sick, and disabled community members. Thank you in advance to our village.