My name is Laurie and for those who don’t know me, I am Stephen Bucarelli’s sister in law.

On Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, Stephen went in for surgery to have a Thymoma removed. It is a growth that was situated behind his Sternum. This was supposed to be a relatively simple surgery with the expected hospitalization to be no more than 2-3 days. Compilations occurred and this was not the case.

Stephen was unable to breath and was placed back on the ventilator, intubated and sedated. He was sent to the ICU. The doctors were hoping his body needed time from the surgery and he would be able to breath on his own within a few days. Stephen was taken off the ventilator on Thursday, January 22nd, 2026 and this was also unsuccessful. By Saturday, January 24th, 2026 he was put back on the ventilator and placed under sedation with his condition slowly deteriorating.

Findings showed that Stephen has a Pulmonary Emboli (Blot Clot in his lung) and Atelectasis (Lung Collapse) and he has become dependent on the ventilator to survive. He is currently on Blood Thinners, the medicine may take weeks to start making changes in his condition. Some future possible treatments may be a Thrombelectomy (removal of the clot) but no one is certain at the moment if this would clinically improve his condition or change his outcomes. To complicate things, he is currently not stable enough to have another CT Scan needed to determine if the clots are dissolving or if any other issues are present. His overall condition remains precarious and unpredictable. He remains sedated and on a ventilator with no prediction when his condition may improve.

Stephen has a huge heart and for those of you who know him personally he would do anything for anyone. Now is the time for us to rally behind him to help support his wife Mimma and his two boys (ages 8 and 6) as they struggle through this uncertainty.

Mimma sits by his bedside for hours a day in ICU while having to continue working her job to support her family, ensure that her children are tended to and being there for her husband through the ups and downs. Most days she skips meals and has many sleepless nights worrying about her husband, her children and their future.

Stephen does not have sick benefits or drug coverage from his current workplace and their monthly bills continue to grow during this hard time. Physicians believe that he will be in the ICU for weeks to months and he will require rehab and many more months to recover before he can return to any type of work and normalcy.

We pray for his recovery daily, however slow it may be. We kindly ask that you make a donation no matter how small, to help support the Bucarelli family in their time of need so we may lift any financial burdens that currently exist and will continue to exist including medical costs to help with recovery in the months ahead.

Please help this young dad and his family through this unbelievably difficult time in their lives.

Update February 6

Steve has done well the last few days and we are headed in the right direction but recovery will be slow and steady . This morning he had a tracheotomy done(a tube in the front of his neck) so they he can be woken up and not have the tube down his windpipe . He is still on the ventilator but the plan is to slowly ween him off and allow him to do some of the work to breathe in his own . Sedation has stopped so we are paying he opens his eyes and wakes up fully over the next day or 2.

Steve remains in the ICU to be closely monitored for the time being . Your continued prayers and thoughts are needed still as recovery begins .

Thank you to each and every one of you who have donated, shared, prayed , and kept us in your thoughts during this difficult time.