Help us save Giovanni Castaneda!

On November 8th 2021, Michel Giovanni Castaneda, just two weeks before his 24th birthday, suffered a completely unexpected, near fatal accident. Giovanni wanted to practice his skateboarding/long boarding skills, with the idea of one day making it to the XGames, or possibly even the olympics as a snowboarder. Unfortunately during one of those practices alongside his big sister Scarleth, he failed to wear a helmet and fell off his board at a very high speed, as he was descending down a hill, hitting his head on the street’s concrete, tumbling, and hitting it once more, in front of his sister who desperately ran to his aid upon seeing the horrific scene unravel before her eyes. The doctors said Gio made it to the hospital, and into surgery in the “nick of time”, just before losing his life from this terrible accident. He had to get a craniotomy done in order to try and save his life. The left side of his skull had to be removed in order to help with the brain swelling that was caused due to the impact his head took against the concrete. Even then, after several weeks of being in a coma, staying on a ventilator and life support  for over 5 weeks and the several emergency surgeries done to Giovanni’s body, including a tracheotomy, and a PEG tube placement surgery, the damage was too great to where it reached his brain stem, affecting many functions in his brain and body. He cannot talk, he cannot move at all, he cannot eat on his own or follow commands, it is torturous and devastating to see him this way. The doctors put him into the category of being in a “Vegetative state” for the rest of his life, unless by “some miracle”, he can recover from this and once again walk, write, talk, be a normal boy again. It is almost as if he is trapped in his own body while this awaited miracle happens  and the thought of this, and feeling feeling helpless knowing there is nothing to do but let time do it’s work is heartbreaking and almost asphyxiating-like. For the past two and a half months, Giovanni has been fighting desperately for his life, with his mom, his dad and his older sister by his side. Giovanni’s family spent his 24th Birthday at the hospital with him by his side. On top of everything, Covid hit the family at the worst possible time, causing everyone in the family to catch it, including Giovanni. The doctor said because Giovanni has a severe TBI, he doesn’t know what the outcome would look like for him, because Giovanni is his first patient with a Severe TBI, battling Covid as well. But Giovanni has been such a warrior throughout his recovery process, it’s believed he will kick Covid to the curb as well no problem!

The road to recovery has not been an easy one, but it will be a road worth all the while once the hard work, dedication and love that has been driving the Castaneda family for months to bring their son and brother back to a normal life, pays off! 

As far as expenses go, that is where the tricky part comes in… The hospital bills have been fairly hefty as this is not an easy injury to treat. Because Giovanni is bedridden, unable to speak or move, he has been needing a special hospital bed, many medical supplies to help take care of all his needs, and special liquid food which consists of Jevity bottles and beneprotien powder, which is given to him through a peg tube until he can one day hopefully eat again on his own, with lots of work from speech therapy and other physical therapies. Giovanni has been needing 20 different medications daily, in order to help keep him alive, and to help him recover as much as he can. These medications are extremely pricy but worth every bit of money put in, as they guarantee another day of life and chance of recovery for Giovanni. 

The Castaneda family has been by Giovanni’s side day and night, becoming his full time caregivers, with much happiness and love, but in turn this has caused the family to not be able to work, therefore bills have began to pile up causing much stress and worry, on top of the stress of fighting to keep Giovanni alive and well. 

If you would like to please donate to this fundraiser to help Giovanni, the Castaneda family would appreciate it from the very bottom of their hearts. Any little bit helps even just a penny! Thank you so much in advance, and please stay safe everyone, hug your loved ones tight and remember to tell them you love them dearly, because life can truly change for the worst in a matter of less than one second. God bless everyone!