Alex & Paula de Santiago - Healthcare Expenses

Hello - I'm a former graduate school classmate of Alex de Santiago and am trying to gather some support for his wonderful family. They have been through some intensely challenging times these past seven years, and my hope is to help alleviate some of the burdens they are continuing to experience.

On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, back in 2015, Paula left her home to pick up her kids from school to take them to the dentist when she was involved in a serious car accident in Saratoga Springs, Utah. Paula was airlifted to Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. She suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and went into a coma that lasted two months long. Paula was in and out of hospitals and medical facilities until her family decided to take her back home.

Paula is now quadriplegic, unable to speak, swallow, or do anything herself. Since then, she has fought along with her family, slowly making progress but then digressing due to her regular seizures. Unfortunately, Paula has faced new physical challenges these past few years (kidney stones, recurring urinary tract infections, seizures, Dysautonomia, infections, pneumonia, and respiratory failures), and her health has taken a toll in the last year.

Paula is married and is a mother of five beautiful children. She's the oldest of seven, and her family lives in Chile. Paula was a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Argentina. There she helped hundreds of people, especially aboriginal people, with their vegetable gardens, hygiene, health, etc.,. Paula married Alex de Santiago in 1996 in Santiago, Chile and then moved to Utah in order to complete his college degree.

Paula has suffered from panic attacks, anxiety, and depression since she was 17 years old. Therefore she looked for different ways to cope with it (sports, manual arts, etc.). In 2007, a friend invited her to run and she loved it! She then spent her spare time running, swimming, and cycling and competed in more than 20 races (marathons and triathlons) in recent years. She was also a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader and participated in the highest training that a Scout leader can achieve, the Wood Badge. Paula is cheerful, friendly, spontaneous, crazy, sincere, loving, attentive, kind, brave, and loved by thousands.

Alex has remained faithful to her, caring for her and their five children, along with Paula's aging parents and his own parents. In recent years, mental health (depression, anxiety, and mental and physical exhaustion) has taken a toll on the whole family. However, their faith in God and Jesus Christ has sustained most of them during these tough years. Angels (unseen and friends and acquaintances) have served them constantly.

Even though they have private health insurance (though Alex's employer), medical, mental health, and care-related expenses have not decreased over time and are a constant burden on the family. Last year they spent over 30 thousand dollars on healthcare expenses, and expect expenses to double that by the end of the year.

Pre-covid, they used to raise funds through an annual 5K called Run4Paula; however, since the pandemic, that has stopped. If you are in a position to support Alex, Paula, and their family, to help alleviate some of the burdens of the costs of care, their family would be grateful for your kindness and generosity.

Sincerely,

Janice Adams