Help Mario with Transplant Costs

As many of you may know, my dad Mario Reyes has been on a liver transplant waitlist for the past year and a half. Three days ago, on January 10th, he finally got the call. My parents rushed to the hospital to see if this liver could potentially be a perfect match. It was. For six hours, surgeons worked to remove his damaged liver and replace it with the donor. This surgery is very intensive and quite dangerous, and my mom sat nervously in the waiting room, receiving periodic calls from a nurse letting her know that everything was still going well in the operating room. During this time, my sister and I immediately got on flights back to Dallas, so that we could be with our parents in their time of need. After six long hours, the surgery was complete. My dad was moved to the Intensive Care Unit for the next two days, where he was monitored closely to ensure that his body was accepting the new liver. He is no longer in the ICU, but is still being closely monitored. He is working on breathing exercises and walking down the hospital hallway a few times a day, and realizes that the road to recovery will be a long and difficult one. While he was in the ICU, one of the nurses told my family something that I will never forget. He said to us “You know Mario has two birthdays now, right? Sure, he has his real birthday, but January 10th, 2018, that’s his new birthday”. We are eternally grateful for what has happened this past week, and look forward for the opportunity to celebrate both of his birthdays for years to come.

For those of you who know my dad, you know how amazing of a person he is. The second he walks into a room, it seems to come alive with a tangible energy that few people can replicate. He can enter a room where he knows absolutely no one, and by the end of the afternoon, he’ll leave with ten new friends (He’s already befriended most of his nurses and doctors in just the past three days). My dad has worked insanely hard his entire life, and he is my personal hero. Seeing him struggle through this enormous and unexpected challenge has been the hardest thing I’ve ever had to witness, but I know that he has the strength and resolve to continue to persevere and meet his recovery checkpoints head on. As a chef, my dad has always loved to cook for other people. I can’t even begin to count the number of times he has spent hours in the kitchen cooking for friends who are feeling under the weather, who are going through tough times, or even who simply mentioned earlier in the day that they had no plans for dinner. Whether it be bowls of lobster bisque, whole roasted fish, or handmade beignets, my dad truly believes that good food brings happiness, and that everything tastes better when shared with friends. The past two years have been tough on our entire family, but we have stayed strong together, often talking through the difficult times at the dinner table. Looking towards 2018, we had a positive outlook in the hopes that eventually the call would come, and we are so grateful that it did.

However, this belated Christmas miracle that we received also comes at an extraordinarily high cost. Even with my parents’ insurance, the surgery and time spent in the hospital alone is going to cost them tens of thousands of dollars. In addition, he is going to have to take expensive anti-rejection medicine, in order to ensure that his new liver is always accepted by his body, for the rest of his life. My parents have always worked extremely hard to support my sister and I, and we decided to start this campaign in order to return the favor. When times are tough, it is important to lean on the support of friends and family, and my dad is the most deserving man I know. Any and all donations are insanely appreciated, no matter the amount. Please continue to keep my dad in your thoughts and prayers as he works to recover, and we all know he’ll be back cooking in the kitchen before we know it.   -Jordan Reyes

Thank you all so much for your donations, thoughts, and prayers,

With love,

The Reyes Family