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On Monday, September 20, 2021 at 9:12pm our dad, Juan Ramon Lorenzo Aguilar, passed away after experiencing complications related to brain surgery. His death was completely unexpected and we are in shock and devastated. We thought he was going to walk out of the hospital and now we are organizing his funeral and facing huge costs that none of us were prepared for. We are calling for support from our community to help us through this unimaginably difficult time.
Our dad was hilarious and so joyful. He was the life of the party, an accomplished guitar player who was known to surprise family members with loving serenades. He was charismatic and deeply lovable. He treated every conversation he had, even with random strangers, with an open heart and sincere interest. Our friends have told us he made them feel welcomed, like he'd known them forever, even in the few times they met. That was our dad, he loved his kids and grandkids. He loved people and he loved life, and life loved him back up until it was his day to go.
4 years ago our dad had surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. He came out of the surgery with no issues and quickly got back to his day to day life. It was important to him that he still be able to take long drives alone, one of his favorite ways to relax, and within a few months he was doing just that. He continued to get regular MRIs and both of the 2020 MRIs showed he was tumor free. His doctors felt he could move to yearly check ups rather than every 6 months.
Around early August 2021, dad began to lose the desire to pick up his guitar-- his daily phone calls became weekly calls, and by the end of the month his speech plummeted into a word salad. When he went into his yearly MRI a few short days later, his doctors discovered that the same tumor had grown back to an unprecedented size. The doctors told us that a tumor of this magnitude should have taken 20 years to grow. Because this was a Type 2 Meningioma Tumor, which is resistant to chemo and radiation, the only option for removal was surgery. Initially, dad woke up from surgery and everything seemed to be ok. Three days after the surgery, he began standing in Physical Therapy and had speech exercises in Speech Therapy. He was even able to speak to family on the phone who were so relieved he was on his way back to living his life at the fullest and playing his guitar. We anticipated him going home within a week or two. When dad took a sudden turn from his path to recovery, the doctors discovered he had contracted a rare bacterial brain infection during the surgery and had internal bleeding and excess fluids in his brain. None of their efforts to drain the fluids worked, and within a few days we went from thinking he would be out of the hospital in no time, to needing to decide as a family to take him off life support because only some brain stem function remained. Our whole world is upside down and the mounting costs of the funeral and memorial, in addition to family travel and food costs has put us in a really difficult financial position.
Thank you so much for your love and support.
- on behalf of Luis Harry, Maria Raquel, Gaby, Lorena Yanira, Jessica Roxana, Sonia Maria, Juanito, Nubia, Rosio, Adriana, Michelle, Maria and the extended Aguilar family.
Our dad was hilarious and so joyful. He was the life of the party, an accomplished guitar player who was known to surprise family members with loving serenades. He was charismatic and deeply lovable. He treated every conversation he had, even with random strangers, with an open heart and sincere interest. Our friends have told us he made them feel welcomed, like he'd known them forever, even in the few times they met. That was our dad, he loved his kids and grandkids. He loved people and he loved life, and life loved him back up until it was his day to go.
4 years ago our dad had surgery to remove a tumor from his brain. He came out of the surgery with no issues and quickly got back to his day to day life. It was important to him that he still be able to take long drives alone, one of his favorite ways to relax, and within a few months he was doing just that. He continued to get regular MRIs and both of the 2020 MRIs showed he was tumor free. His doctors felt he could move to yearly check ups rather than every 6 months.
Around early August 2021, dad began to lose the desire to pick up his guitar-- his daily phone calls became weekly calls, and by the end of the month his speech plummeted into a word salad. When he went into his yearly MRI a few short days later, his doctors discovered that the same tumor had grown back to an unprecedented size. The doctors told us that a tumor of this magnitude should have taken 20 years to grow. Because this was a Type 2 Meningioma Tumor, which is resistant to chemo and radiation, the only option for removal was surgery. Initially, dad woke up from surgery and everything seemed to be ok. Three days after the surgery, he began standing in Physical Therapy and had speech exercises in Speech Therapy. He was even able to speak to family on the phone who were so relieved he was on his way back to living his life at the fullest and playing his guitar. We anticipated him going home within a week or two. When dad took a sudden turn from his path to recovery, the doctors discovered he had contracted a rare bacterial brain infection during the surgery and had internal bleeding and excess fluids in his brain. None of their efforts to drain the fluids worked, and within a few days we went from thinking he would be out of the hospital in no time, to needing to decide as a family to take him off life support because only some brain stem function remained. Our whole world is upside down and the mounting costs of the funeral and memorial, in addition to family travel and food costs has put us in a really difficult financial position.
Thank you so much for your love and support.
- on behalf of Luis Harry, Maria Raquel, Gaby, Lorena Yanira, Jessica Roxana, Sonia Maria, Juanito, Nubia, Rosio, Adriana, Michelle, Maria and the extended Aguilar family.