Alex's Caregiver Bayanihan Fund

Friends, family, colleagues, or any caring individuals who come across this page,

As most of you know, Alex is an amazing individual. A loving father to two 18-month-old twins, Malaya and Bayani, a caring partner and friend, a foolish basketball player [Andi's edit--sorry Alex!], and all around great guy, who probably hates all these platitudes we're trying to add to this page.

But as only some of you may know, Alex unfortunately suffered a terrible injury--a T6 burst fracture of his spine (on his birthday, no less) while doing his favorite thing in this world--playing basketball. Sadly, as a result, he lost all motor function in his legs and underwent many hours of emergency surgery on his spine at Weill Cornell. He remains in the neuro ICU for now but for anyone who knows Alex, also remains hopeful and positive, working his tail off with PT each and every day.

While we all hope for the best for Alex (and he would probably never openly ask for help), we also recognize that he and his family are facing a very challenging time, with an uncertain future in terms of rehab, recovery, function, or even childcare, along with all of the potential costs of these. So we're setting up this fund, to help Alex, Andi, and their family as much as we can with what lies ahead and to hopefully give them a little less to worry about. We sincerely appreciate anything and everything that you might be able to contribute whether that's funds, love, well wishes, thoughts and prayers, positive vibes, or ridiculously silly decor to liven up his hospital room

Thank you so much for your love and support,

-Ray, on behalf of Andi and Alex

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Addendum From Alex:

I want to say thank you to my man Ray for starting this fund for me and for being so supportive during this time. Since the accident I have been working hard to think of ways for others to join me on this journey with a spirit of intention and imagination. The vulnerability I have been thrust into has allowed me to connect with countless folx with a profound sense of vulnerability, intimacy, and interdependence. These chats have challenged societal gender, familial, and work norms. We seem to have stumbled on a mini ruptural moment. Like a modern Cornell Commune centered up here in 2216. We may not have a tennis court to lay down our oath but we do have a sweet rehab gym we can use. If you've read this far the tl;dr is please just come join me on this beautiful journey or even give me a call (206-697-4488) and let's have a chat and get right into it.

Now my material conditions are robust and stable for the time being but those of my countless caregivers are certainly not. After some grounding chats with numerous family, friends, and staff varied from PCT's and RN's (robust) to Neurosurgical and Ortho residents (less robust) we have collectively agreed that a caregiver support fund is imaginative, vulnerable, and with some effort can be mutualistically interdependent. We hope to use this fund to fly caregivers we love from around the country to stay with us in Brooklyn and help with our twins Malaya (liberated) and Bayanihan (spirit of communal support in times of need), to appropriately compensate them for said caregiving, and to try and support some of the in-hospital staff with a combination of celebratory treats/meals and other means of caregiver support we agree upon collectively and equitably. Please reasonably consider your own relative wealth and financial stability knowing that many of my comrades and coworkers are housing and/or job unstable. We will provide regular transparency updates hopefully with an ample amount of photographs, joy, and hilarity. We would certainly love for you to be involved in any capacity even if it just means stopping by to see what the hell I'm talking about here or to just say Hi.

I do not know how long this journey and the accompanying ruptural moment will last but in the meanwhile as my man Notorious B.I.G. once said we will "stay far from timid, only make moves if our heart's in it, and live the phrase 'sky's the limit.'"

In solidarity,

Alex and the rest of the CC-2216

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In an effort to provide full transparency regarding fund distributions below is a spreadsheet of each distribution with receipts attached.

Fund Distribution Tracking:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1DXT_KS905Vzt-AFBKGTmWypwRKt9ObtXo1fe42B5QtA/