Hello Everyone,

We have created this account by petition of colleagues of my father. As a family, we appreciate the donations, shares, and support as we help Juan adjust to these sudden changes.

My father was admitted into the hospital on April 14. We originally thought he was suffering from a possible heart attack as he described immense pain in his chest, where his heart was. We took him in that morning and we were given a huge surprise. His pain was caused by a perforated ulcer. The stomach contents were seeping out and causing him pain, and he had to have emergency surgery to repair the ulcer. He went in that same day. The following day after surgery, he saw an orthopedic surgeon for previous concerns of a swollen left leg. We were initially told it was cellulitis and bilateral lower extremity edema. The doctor did a knee fluid withdrawal, and it was discovered that he had a very severe infection within the joint liquid and it had to be drained. He was scheduled for surgery #2 on Easter Sunday. After the knee drain surgery, he was seen by an infectious disease doctor due to non-stop fevers. On top of this, we also noticed he was having issues with his middle finger on his right hand. After tests, sonograms, X-rays, and multiple specialist consultations, they all gave us the same results. He has a ruptured tendon. It’s the tendon that causes movement in the finger. His finger is no longer mobile and will need to be amputated. Per request of my father, we decided to allow him to tell us when he is ready to have it removed. We also learned that he has been dealing with osteoarthritis and chronic arthritis throughout his body.

This has been extremely hard on my father as those who know him, know he is not the type to rest ever. His passion is his work and his lawn. From sun up to sun down, he will always be looking for something to get into. If he’s not working fixing golf carts or fixing machinery, he is at home fixing the house he and my mother have maintained for over 20 years. He was and is a very loving father and grandfather to 3 daughters and 12 grandchildren. He was always looking to help out wherever he could. He would give the shirt off his back if he could.

This has put a tremendous toll on all of us as a family as we learn to adjust to his new diet restrictions, physical therapy, medications, and treatments. Economically, we have all been hit hard as we have all put in so much time, care, and extra income we have available to assist in his care. Our priority is to make sure he does a full recovery so he can go back to living a close to normal lifestyle. He wants to go back to work and spend time with his grandbabies. Unfortunately, he does not qualify for insurance or any type of aid so the accounts fall on us to pay. Anything donated will go straight to his medical bills, therapy bills, and medications. We want to be with him every step of the way as he regains mobility in his left leg and learns to work and function with a missing/nonfunctional finger.