Help Simon Beat The Odds!

My name is Andrew Montehermoso and my youngest brother Simon sustained a significant brain injury on December 30th. He was found unresponsive by my sister Ally and her boyfriend James who courageously provided life saving CPR until the ambulance could arrive.

Upon arriving at the hospital and being admitted to the ICU, Simon’s injuries were so grave our family was told he wouldn’t survive past 72 hours. Over the next couple of days our hearts broke repeatedly as we prepared to say goodbye to Simon. Buckets of tears were shed, prayers lifted heavenward, and we felt deep heartbreak at the thought of moving forward without him.

Simon has always been proud of being designated an organ donor on his drivers license. In preparation to honor his wishes for organ donation, Simon was taken off life support and expected to pass within 90 minutes. However, Simon lived! 91 minutes had passed without life support and Simon’s heart was still beating and he was breathing on his own. Even still, Simon’s outlook was grim. At this point his brain was still showing catastrophic damage.

He was then taken to receive care in hospice to keep him comfortable until his passing. Our family was told to expect the process to take as long as 7-10 days, so we tried to prepare for an excruciating and long goodbye. Our hearts were still broken.

Amazingly, after moving to hospice care, Simon began to demonstrate more awareness and signs of consciousness, including things like mouthing “hi” and tracking people with his eyes. These signs did not match his prognosis! Someone with Simon’s original outlook *should not* be able to do these things. Amazingly, his most recent CT scan shows his brain appears to be healing!

Yesterday, January 6th, Simon was moved from hospice care to therapeutic care, with speech therapy and physical therapy on the horizon. This is incredible and miraculous! Simon has defied every odd set in front of him thus far. The road ahead is long and still filled with unknowns.

Currently, Simon is in the hospital in Indiana, and we want to get him back to Washington to continue his care longer term. We are hoping to organize these funds to help with medical transportation from Indiana to Washington, medical equipment, and therapy appointments to support his long term recovery. This is costly out of pocket and we want to make sure Simon receives the best possible care as he recovers. We are so thankful for your prayers and support.