Update for RYNO's Health Crisis

See his story below...

My name is Anita and I know Daniel Herrera as a Board member with TILT. He is a deeply faithful and committed person who has faced the highs and lows of his life with courage and spiritual strength. He has been a rock for his family and community, and now he is facing his own deep waters. Money is energy and can convey so much more than just financial subsistence. It is a sign of our community spirit, support and love for Ryno and his family as they surf this difficult time. We stand with them.

Here's RYNO's story:

Daniel and his wife, Audra, have been in the trenches with many of their family members these past two years —due to multiple and unexpected crises. Now Daniel "RYNO" is in the middle of his own health crisis. He's needing financial support for medical bills piling up and for travel/lodging as he is needing to travel to Albuquerque to see medical doctors. He's also unable to work and funding will help contribute to the household expenses for his wife and two children he is raising---including his grandson, Alonso and daughter, Savannah.

Here's his story.

Daniel "RYNO" Herrera is a sixth-generation Taoseño. His family has called Taos, New Mexico home for over 300 years. Ex-felon/ex-addict turned healer/community organizer, he has skills as an auto mechanic, snowplower, small-scale farmer, licensed peer social worker and pre-trial navigator. Today he is a core leader of Taos Initiative for Life Together, helping to grow a robust local food web, protect watersheds, encourage place-based living skills and adobe building. Daniel is also a founding member of the innovative non-profit, Taos County's Repurposing Plastic Project which diverts landfill plastic into building material— turning waste into walls. His own non-profit, RYNO —Rewiring Yourself w/New Opportunities – helps the formerly-addicted and incarcerated find a better way to live, healing lives by rooting in traditional ways and honoring the original land of the Tewa People. With the support of family and community, a once run-down trailer park and apple grove are being transformed into a Center for Hope & Healing, with a rebuilt adobe chapel, meeting space, job training, peer counseling, a flourishing garden, transitional housing and affordable tiny homes.

In 2007. Daniel had gastric by-pass surgery after living at 420 lbs for 20 years. This helped him lose 235 lbs. Daniel accomplished weight loss, but now that his stomach was walnut sized, his body wasn't able to get adequate protein and and nutrition. After all these years, his liver is stressed and failing due to not being properly nourished. In early March, he was hospitalized for 2 weeks, something he had put off for a long time, knowing deep down that once he was in hospital, it would mean a long recovery. As a primary bread winner for the family, he didn't know how he could face this. Yet, Daniel had put on 60 lbs of water weight, with his abdomen and feet so swollen that he couldn't walk from one rung of the ladder to another at work. Daniel was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and was jaundiced from his liver complications. The doctor couldn't believe he wasn't in a diabetic coma. At first Daniel was barely able to move in the hospital bed, so painful were his swollen abdomen and legs/feet. Immediately he was put on a diuretic, shedding water weight, which allowed them to discharge him a few weeks later—even though he could still barely move on his own. Stuck at home elevating legs and trying to reduce swelling, Daniel is trying to stay positive and take care of tasks at home even as he awaits seeing a liver specialist. He is aware he will also need to see a gastro-entologist for a diagnosis.

Daniel is a spiritual warrior and community leader. It is his faith and practice that keep him positive daily, though it's been difficult. He realizes that there is cancer on both sides of his family. His father has recovered from multiple cancers and Daniel sees him as an inspiration even as he undertakes this journey into the wilderness of his own health crisis.