Please Help Me and my Family
Donation protected
Hi my name is Carlena. I love my school, I am a junior at the Manatee School of the Arts with a 4.0 GPA. I have made a lot of great new friends. In August I was welcomed into the Publix family on Anna Maria Island. My father was a Meat Clerk at Publix for over a year and they were happy to welcome me abroad. When I graduate next year, my dreams are to attend schools like UF or FSU for Digital Illustrating. It was only eight months ago, with my father’s full support and love, I moved down from New York. We both decided this was best for my future. Unfortunately shortly after my birthday in January, my father passed away due to a bacterial infection from a valve transplant 10 years ago. I have been faced with making decisions, most kids my age do not have to make. I really want to stay here in honor of my father and continue to pursue my dreams in Florida.
When I moved down it felt amazing to have a new start with my dad. My goals were to complete my last two years of high school and create more memories with him. Everything was going as planned, we did many things we used to do together. We went camping, watched sunsets, enjoyed the beach, went for car rides, traveled, and cooked together. After a month of me moving down, he slowly started to get sick. First we thought it was a common cold that he could sleep off, like he always did. We figured he would be better in a week. As the weeks went on, the more things progressed like a little pain here and there. As we went to the doctors, they were not able to find anything wrong in the testing. They were just as confused and just hoping it would go away.
The months started to go by and then he slowly got worse and worse. All he could do was sleep. My dad already had occurring medical problems with his heart, lungs, and other organs where he was already on a defibrillator and many medicines to keep him going. I tried to express my concerns to him and was worried each day I came home from school, but he kept telling me he was going to get better and that he didn’t need a hospital.
In these months I felt sadness when I entered my house after school. I felt the stress of not knowing if he was really okay or not. As the weeks started to go by he needed more and more help. More problems started to happen with his body. Fast forward to December, he was increasingly more tired and did not get out of bed at all. He began to become more uncoordinated. I was confused and didn’t know what was going on. He always did make it through, every sickness and surgery. I was praying it to be just like the rest.
When Christmas time came around and I knew he wasn’t going to get any better, I tried to get him to agree to go to the hospital. Everyday he just went back to sleep and didn’t want too. It was starting to make me more anxious every single day until Christmas Eve came, and he was significantly worse. He could not speak due to his breathing that night. I knew there wasn’t a lot of time before something happened, so I called an ambulance immediately.
It was a very difficult decision to make and difficult to see him take in, he was confused as to why there was an ambulance and 8 people in his house. I had that feeling he needed it. I went there with him and stayed with him in the ER for a couple of hours until they told me he was suffering from a bacterial infection in his blood and some heart failure. I was proud of myself though, I got him to the hospital at least. We found out it has been going on for all of these months.
Later on that day he was admitted into a room and would continue to get antibiotics for a couple of weeks until it hopefully went away. But tragically as I didn’t know, he was actually getting worse after a couple of weeks and the antibiotics were not showing to help. But I didn’t know this until later. Everyday I was there with my dad for those 3 weeks and I would stay by his side for hours helping him and talking to him and laying next to him. And I would do this everyday no matter what. But as he was being transferred from the ICU after two weeks, to the regular unit he immediately was back up and we were all just praying this would work since they weren’t able to do testing to see if it reached the heart. But when he was doing stable they said and was transferred back to the regular floor he still didn’t seem that all better. Because at night he would start to seem more confused and uncoordinated but in the morning he would be almost like himself again and I did not understand what was happening. I was only praying for everything to work out.
Then the day, January 15, came around and it was my birthday. I went to spend the morning with him for a couple of hours and was able to talk to him normally about everything. It was great and I loved spending my Birthday with him and wouldn’t spend it with anyone’s else. But then I told him that I would come back later to bring him a slice of birthday cake so we could eat together. Though I ended up going back later at 6pm where he started to get tired and disoriented, luckily I was able to talk to him and eat with him. I stayed for a couple of hours until it got late and then said my goodnights.
Although I know I couldn’t have known, I wish I stayed that night instead of leaving. Because the next night my aunt got a call apparently and he was rushed back into the ICU and incubated. He could not breathe and his heart was not well. I didn’t know any of this until I got to the hospital later that day after school and they told me the horrible news. He was getting worse and that the blood infection started in a valve transparent by the heart that he got 10 years ago. I was heartbroken and couldn’t believe it. I tried to be strong and stay by his side.
Later that day my aunt came and we continued to talk to the doctors. As the few days went on he was getting worse and started to swell because his organs started to fail. We didn’t know what to do and they said they didn’t know how much time he had left. They recommended comfort care as there was no way he could go through another valve transplant or any surgery because his heart was so badly infected. It was the hardest day of my life as I stayed with him for the entire 12 hours that day until he passed away that night. It has been so hard especially since I have lived with him and he has made his entire life dedicated to me and making sure I have a good life. He was the best father and kind hearted amazing best friend anyone could have and the passing of him has took a part of me and my family that will always be there. Along with trying to heal this grief of my dad, I’m trying to save everything he gave me like his car, our stuff, and the apartment we have lived in but sadly this is a very rough time and I don’t have enough to pay for any of the expenses and keep his honor and memory. My dad loved his Dodge Challenger and I love all the memories. This has been a horrible rough 8 months but I know that he is not in pain anymore and all I can do is finish my schooling and make him proud. But unfortunately I don’t have enough to keep the rent, car, food and dogs stable. Anything would help out, please and it will be greatly appreciated. Thank you god bless ❤️
Here are some photos:
He was the best father,
brother, son, and friend anyone could ever ask for
In loving memory of Daniel Brunetto Foster❤️
When I moved down it felt amazing to have a new start with my dad. My goals were to complete my last two years of high school and create more memories with him. Everything was going as planned, we did many things we used to do together. We went camping, watched sunsets, enjoyed the beach, went for car rides, traveled, and cooked together. After a month of me moving down, he slowly started to get sick. First we thought it was a common cold that he could sleep off, like he always did. We figured he would be better in a week. As the weeks went on, the more things progressed like a little pain here and there. As we went to the doctors, they were not able to find anything wrong in the testing. They were just as confused and just hoping it would go away.
The months started to go by and then he slowly got worse and worse. All he could do was sleep. My dad already had occurring medical problems with his heart, lungs, and other organs where he was already on a defibrillator and many medicines to keep him going. I tried to express my concerns to him and was worried each day I came home from school, but he kept telling me he was going to get better and that he didn’t need a hospital.
In these months I felt sadness when I entered my house after school. I felt the stress of not knowing if he was really okay or not. As the weeks started to go by he needed more and more help. More problems started to happen with his body. Fast forward to December, he was increasingly more tired and did not get out of bed at all. He began to become more uncoordinated. I was confused and didn’t know what was going on. He always did make it through, every sickness and surgery. I was praying it to be just like the rest.
When Christmas time came around and I knew he wasn’t going to get any better, I tried to get him to agree to go to the hospital. Everyday he just went back to sleep and didn’t want too. It was starting to make me more anxious every single day until Christmas Eve came, and he was significantly worse. He could not speak due to his breathing that night. I knew there wasn’t a lot of time before something happened, so I called an ambulance immediately.
It was a very difficult decision to make and difficult to see him take in, he was confused as to why there was an ambulance and 8 people in his house. I had that feeling he needed it. I went there with him and stayed with him in the ER for a couple of hours until they told me he was suffering from a bacterial infection in his blood and some heart failure. I was proud of myself though, I got him to the hospital at least. We found out it has been going on for all of these months.
Later on that day he was admitted into a room and would continue to get antibiotics for a couple of weeks until it hopefully went away. But tragically as I didn’t know, he was actually getting worse after a couple of weeks and the antibiotics were not showing to help. But I didn’t know this until later. Everyday I was there with my dad for those 3 weeks and I would stay by his side for hours helping him and talking to him and laying next to him. And I would do this everyday no matter what. But as he was being transferred from the ICU after two weeks, to the regular unit he immediately was back up and we were all just praying this would work since they weren’t able to do testing to see if it reached the heart. But when he was doing stable they said and was transferred back to the regular floor he still didn’t seem that all better. Because at night he would start to seem more confused and uncoordinated but in the morning he would be almost like himself again and I did not understand what was happening. I was only praying for everything to work out.
Then the day, January 15, came around and it was my birthday. I went to spend the morning with him for a couple of hours and was able to talk to him normally about everything. It was great and I loved spending my Birthday with him and wouldn’t spend it with anyone’s else. But then I told him that I would come back later to bring him a slice of birthday cake so we could eat together. Though I ended up going back later at 6pm where he started to get tired and disoriented, luckily I was able to talk to him and eat with him. I stayed for a couple of hours until it got late and then said my goodnights.
Although I know I couldn’t have known, I wish I stayed that night instead of leaving. Because the next night my aunt got a call apparently and he was rushed back into the ICU and incubated. He could not breathe and his heart was not well. I didn’t know any of this until I got to the hospital later that day after school and they told me the horrible news. He was getting worse and that the blood infection started in a valve transparent by the heart that he got 10 years ago. I was heartbroken and couldn’t believe it. I tried to be strong and stay by his side.
Later that day my aunt came and we continued to talk to the doctors. As the few days went on he was getting worse and started to swell because his organs started to fail. We didn’t know what to do and they said they didn’t know how much time he had left. They recommended comfort care as there was no way he could go through another valve transplant or any surgery because his heart was so badly infected. It was the hardest day of my life as I stayed with him for the entire 12 hours that day until he passed away that night. It has been so hard especially since I have lived with him and he has made his entire life dedicated to me and making sure I have a good life. He was the best father and kind hearted amazing best friend anyone could have and the passing of him has took a part of me and my family that will always be there. Along with trying to heal this grief of my dad, I’m trying to save everything he gave me like his car, our stuff, and the apartment we have lived in but sadly this is a very rough time and I don’t have enough to pay for any of the expenses and keep his honor and memory. My dad loved his Dodge Challenger and I love all the memories. This has been a horrible rough 8 months but I know that he is not in pain anymore and all I can do is finish my schooling and make him proud. But unfortunately I don’t have enough to keep the rent, car, food and dogs stable. Anything would help out, please and it will be greatly appreciated. Thank you god bless ❤️
Here are some photos:
He was the best father,
brother, son, and friend anyone could ever ask for
In loving memory of Daniel Brunetto Foster❤️
Organizer
Carly B
Organizer
Bradenton, FL