Good evening all,
 
My name is Samantha Petrillo (Clifford), my brother Jessie Clifford, as many of you already know has recently become disabled. A little over two months ago, on June 14th,2020 he was admitted to Staten Island Hospital for what seemed to be at the time a small bowel obstruction, he was taken into surgery. Following the surgery, he was unable to breathe on his own and more complications followed. He became septic, went into kidney failure, was unable to maintain a normal blood pressure, had fevers reaching temperatures of 104.0F for days at a time, he was placed on continuous dialysis in order to help his kidneys. My father, sister in law and I were by his side every day. We were told for over a week that his life expectancy was minute to minute. He underwent three different surgeries. He was in ICU for 31 days. After being sedated for 21 days we made the decision to have them perform a tracheotomy in order to help him continue to heal. Shortly after it was placed, he began to wake up. We were overjoyed with relief and felt that he was out of the woods. Since he has regained consciousness it has been an uphill battle. His ability to move has been impaired, he is unable to walk in any capacity and his memory has also been compromised. He was moved to a nursing home for rehab and is not making much progress.
 
As a family we have been doing all we can to help with his progress, advocating for him, caring for him in all ways possible. We have reached a point now where we are in need of some assistance.
 
As most of you know my brother has four young children. He was the sole provider for his family working long hours every day of the week to provide for his family. My brother is the most caring, loving, thoughtful, and hard-working person I have ever known. He is the type of guy that everyone loves to be around. Most of us all refer to him as the big teddy bear. He is always making jokes, making others laugh, always there to lend a hand with any task that is asked of him. Even when I would ask him to help with things that he had no idea how to do, he would look it up and come here ready to help out and somehow, he always got it right. He is also an amazing uncle and Godfather to his nieces and nephew. He is their favorite uncle, when Uncle Jessie is around the fun never seems to end for the kids.
 
Jessie will be facing many obstacles in these coming months and possibly years in his road to recovery. This will not only take an immense toll emotionally but also financially for his family. We as a family are trying everything we can to help him along during this time.
We are asking for any kind of gesture to help him and his family overcome this time together. Hopefully, to one day celebrate all that he he has lost.
 
If you are unable to donate, we ask that you please keep him and his family in your prayers. Please send this to your friends and families.
 
Jessie is a HUGE part of our lives and we are hoping to see him recover and be the man we all love and know him to be.
 
Thank you for your time.
The Clifford Family