The friends of Lorenzo and Mary Bianco have come together to set up a Go Fund Me Page to support their family in a time of need.

Lorenzo Bianco, husband of Mary Bianco and father of Sofia, Julianna and stepson Dante Matas, fell ill with legionella pneumonia and his infection was so severe that his kidneys failed requiring dialysis. From St Joseph’s hospital, he was rushed to Toronto General Hospital where he spent 10 days on the ECMO machine which saved his life but given his diabetes, also created some additional risk. Lorenzo has spent close to 5 weeks in ICU on life support, has had numerous blood transfusions, several rounds of antibiotics and other medicines, undergone various tests and procedures. As a result, he has lost a tremendous amount of weight and muscle mass. While he has made some slow and steady improvement, he remains hospitalized with tracheotomy, feeding tube and will likely lose a few toes as they are necrotic. He is still unable to speak and largely immobile. For those of you who know Lorenzo personally, you know how frustrating and depressing this has been for him as he is a very active and outgoing person. While he is aware of his surroundings and circumstances, he remains weak and unable to communicate. 

This illness is now well into month three and his team of doctors advise it will take up him at least one full year to recover from this severe illness with no confirmation he will regain all cognitive or physical functionality. While St Joseph’s Health Centre has done all that it can to support Lorenzo’s throughout this infection, the next step in his recovery journey is to move him to a complex care continuing care facility to regain some weight, rebuild strength, undergo physio and speech therapy before he can move to rehab facility. It is expected that he will remain at this facility for several months before he will be strong enough to qualify for rehab. 

We have known Lorenzo and Mary for quite some time and were able to share many happy moments with them. Mary and his family have been by his side since this ordeal started on Apr 30. Mary is currently on leave so she can manage Lorenzo’s health care needs and be there for her family during this difficult time. The move to complex continuing care (ccc) will come at a financial cost similar to long term care and in addition, the hospital will start charging the family a daily fee while they wait for a CCC bed to come available for Lorenzo. This is already a family in crisis due to Lorenzo’s illness and loss of income and now this additional financial burden will only add to their stress. Any help is greatly appreciated by Mary and her family at this very difficult time. 

Our parents spoke words of wisdom that without your health, we have nothing. As we walk the Earth with the ability and capability to provide for our loved ones, so must we all join hands and do what we can to help others.

Please join us in helping this family get their feet back on the ground. Thank you in advance for your generous support!