Israel Vasquez Recovery

Happy holidays everyone. As a longtime friend of Israel Vasquez and his wife Rachael, I'm working with a few others trying to rally the troops and gather some support during a really hard time for these two. The truth is they've been up against it real hard the last several years and he needs extensive medical help and several procedures, most of which aren't fully covered by insurance. It's been a rough go, but he finally permitted me to help out and share his story which even since I started this a few weeks ago, has gotten even worse.

Things started to hit the fan rapidly towards the end of last year when Israel awoke one morning with a 104 fever and a softball-sized mass on his leg. Things cascaded quickly into an advanced case of lymphedema brought on by severe cellulitis. His right leg nearly tripled in size, with the mass growing even larger. Having nearly lost his leg, he spent a week in the hospital and had been in and out of the ER several times in the months that followed, but he was able to make do for the most part going into the new year. But things got worse as 2024 wore on.

See, all the while this was going on, Israel was also engaged in another fight. A fight that started over 20 years ago in the form of a unique spinal deformity that through years of physical labor and a few accidents has progressed into a number of severe chronic bone and nerve issues that have left him unable to walk, sit or lay for more than several minutes to an hour at a time. To keep up with work and the day today, the last few years has found him spending most of his waking hours standing, waking hours that increased to the point of going as many as 3 days on his feet with an hour or two of labored sleep here and there. This went on for years and I wouldn't have thought possible if not for his wife attesting to it. The dude has been in agony and for a long time, chose to remain silent about it. But he simply can’t anymore.

To this point he's spent most of 2024 trying to get caught up under vast medical debts and despite his resilience and drive to power through it and take care of business, he's unable to work until he can get these surgeries on his back and feet, and further treatment to his lymph system, it's unclear how much longer things can go this way. Despite how much this has robbed from him, he still continues to go above and beyond his reach to help other people.

For instance not many know that he spent 2019 to 2023 caring for a disabled friend whose family could not, and I’m talking nursing home level help. Not even a few weeks ago, he was out in the cold and dark helping a family who broke down in the middle of the road during rush hour. He was the only one who stopped. Despite having a jacked up back and feet, my guy STILL got out of his car, helped push the car to safety and stayed to help get it started again. That's the kind of guy he is--the kind that will stop when no one else does, push your car in the cold and dark knowing it's going to feel excruciating tomorrow, and then offer to put some gas in the tank. And not to sound corny, but he deserves for a few people to stop and help fill up his tank too.

I had initially aimed to raise enough for Izzy to get at least one procedure done, but thanks to the help and generous spirit of a handful of other friends, this is already growing into a mission by many to go beyond the bare minimum and really try to make him whole again. so with that, I was able to find out based on his most apparent needs right now, approximate costs some even with insurance are:

Dental- 35-40k (could be more)

Heels - 12k

Back surgery - 60k -80k

Lymph surgery - 6k -12k

Existing medical bills -50k

Anyone who knows Israel and Rachael knows they aren't the kind to go asking for help for themselves. In fact it's usually them helping out others. Those of us close by are doing what we can, but you can help do so much more. So if anyone wants to know they are donating to a worthy cause, I can promise you are. This thing has robbed him of his comfort, his ability to pursue his creative passions, his stamina to hang out with his friends, the state of his and his wife’s financial security, even his sleep. It doesn’t take much of we all help--so lets get this guy and his gal looking forward to 2025.

Please reach out with any questions, I'll do my best to answer. The deposit process seems to be taking a little long, so if anyone would like to help out sooner rather than later in some way, or GoFundMe isn't your thing for some reason, let me know and we'll figure out another way to help. Thanks again and happy holidays!

Jared