Stewart Post Injury Rehab
Donation protected
My name is Ernest Elizardo and I along with Peter Barrera and Edward Elizardo Jr. are the older brothers for Stewart Elizardo. On September 13th, my brother Stewart suffered an injury from a smoking device. He went by ambulance to Presbyterian Dallas, where he complained of severe pain in his neck, his throat and his hands. He was given an antibiotic and discharged. On September 22nd, his friends forcibly returned him to the hospital because he was in severe pain, in and out of consciousness and was having severe challenges breathing. It was determined by the doctors that he was suffering from meningitis, two other types of bacteria in his blood, a severe flesh infection of his face, throat, neck and around his spine. The infection was caused by a plastic piece of the e-cigarette that was removed. Six days after being admitted and after six days of heavy antibiotics he remains in grave condition and the doctors are unable to tell us from one day to the next whether or not he will live. Per the medical staff, Stewart is expected to be in the hospital for several more weeks. They expect that he will be on the ventilator for the next several weeks to months. And once the hospital experience has ended it is expected that he will require several months in a rehab and would probably not work for the next year.
I have asked everyone of Stewart's friends and family on Facebook to sell Stewart to their friends and the same will be done by myself and close family. It is the only way I can possibly imagine raising this type of money. My brother by no means has been a perfect person. He has struggled 20 out of the last 25 years. As of November 2013 my brother has been clean and sober, so much so that on the day he was admitted to the hospital despite having a 1 inch by 1 inch round piece of plastic lodged in his throat, a broken neck and meningitis for the last nine days he had no signs of any pain meds or other substance illegal or legal in his system. Despite the situation, I was quite proud of my brother as he continues to show that his past is behind him and his sobriety critical to him.
As many of you may have heard, every day a patient stays in ICU can equal between 1-2 weeks of rehabilitation and every week spent will decrease his muscle mass between 9-11%. In speaking with the doctors and medical staff at Presbytyerian Dallas the best chance Stewart has of not dealing with issues beyond the next two years is to get him into a great program as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the years of issues my brother has had in his life, has him working without the luxury of life insurance, despite being a skilled construction role. As a family, the day to day cost of supporting and housing my brother while he is out of work the next two years will fall on his brothers and mother. The reality is this request for generosity from our loved ones is to help cover the enormous cost of rehabilitation so that one day he can once again continue to support himself.
I would like to add that asking for assistance from everyone is not easy for me and knowing my brother is not going to be easy for him to accept the money, but we have no where else to turn. Many of you may have questions about other resources, so i wanted to be frank with everyone and open. He has not earned enough social security credits to qualify for disability. He will remain on a ventilator for weeks before he can be pulled off of it. As far as any potential litigation we have hit a few challenges and if anything ever does happen it will not be in time to assist with the rehab now. My mother, with whom Stewart would live with herself has medical issues and is retired only on Social Security (And has now been hospitalized herself for 10 days), to which I help offset her financial challenges monthly but she has the ability to house her son and get him where he needs to be daily. My brothers and I are going to do what we have to to ensure Stewart's day to day life is covered financially and my mother has the income from us to ensure he is housed, fed and makes it to where he needs to be along with any daily expenses that may arise. We pray that any successful litigation will cover hospital expenses and the goal amount represents the estimated cost of rehabilitation.
I opted not to post a picture of my brother in ICU at this time and rather focus on more positive times. I am asking everyone who reads this to find it in their hearts to give a few dollars or whatever they can to help my brother return to where he was the day of his accident. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him, your prayers and financial assistance have the impact to make it less of a rocky recovery.
On my end, because of everything in the news and because of my constant desire to be sure I never am accused misappropriation of funds or theft (im a former PTA Treasurer) commit to the following - 1. Maintain a full expense and income log for my brother over the next few years to track all monies and furthermore commit to share with anyone who donates or wishes to donate upon request. 2. Any overage collection amount and any amount from litigation that is not required per the recovery plan will be donated to another person in need and be openly shared.
I have asked everyone of Stewart's friends and family on Facebook to sell Stewart to their friends and the same will be done by myself and close family. It is the only way I can possibly imagine raising this type of money. My brother by no means has been a perfect person. He has struggled 20 out of the last 25 years. As of November 2013 my brother has been clean and sober, so much so that on the day he was admitted to the hospital despite having a 1 inch by 1 inch round piece of plastic lodged in his throat, a broken neck and meningitis for the last nine days he had no signs of any pain meds or other substance illegal or legal in his system. Despite the situation, I was quite proud of my brother as he continues to show that his past is behind him and his sobriety critical to him.
As many of you may have heard, every day a patient stays in ICU can equal between 1-2 weeks of rehabilitation and every week spent will decrease his muscle mass between 9-11%. In speaking with the doctors and medical staff at Presbytyerian Dallas the best chance Stewart has of not dealing with issues beyond the next two years is to get him into a great program as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, the years of issues my brother has had in his life, has him working without the luxury of life insurance, despite being a skilled construction role. As a family, the day to day cost of supporting and housing my brother while he is out of work the next two years will fall on his brothers and mother. The reality is this request for generosity from our loved ones is to help cover the enormous cost of rehabilitation so that one day he can once again continue to support himself.
I would like to add that asking for assistance from everyone is not easy for me and knowing my brother is not going to be easy for him to accept the money, but we have no where else to turn. Many of you may have questions about other resources, so i wanted to be frank with everyone and open. He has not earned enough social security credits to qualify for disability. He will remain on a ventilator for weeks before he can be pulled off of it. As far as any potential litigation we have hit a few challenges and if anything ever does happen it will not be in time to assist with the rehab now. My mother, with whom Stewart would live with herself has medical issues and is retired only on Social Security (And has now been hospitalized herself for 10 days), to which I help offset her financial challenges monthly but she has the ability to house her son and get him where he needs to be daily. My brothers and I are going to do what we have to to ensure Stewart's day to day life is covered financially and my mother has the income from us to ensure he is housed, fed and makes it to where he needs to be along with any daily expenses that may arise. We pray that any successful litigation will cover hospital expenses and the goal amount represents the estimated cost of rehabilitation.
I opted not to post a picture of my brother in ICU at this time and rather focus on more positive times. I am asking everyone who reads this to find it in their hearts to give a few dollars or whatever they can to help my brother return to where he was the day of his accident. He has a long road of recovery ahead of him, your prayers and financial assistance have the impact to make it less of a rocky recovery.
On my end, because of everything in the news and because of my constant desire to be sure I never am accused misappropriation of funds or theft (im a former PTA Treasurer) commit to the following - 1. Maintain a full expense and income log for my brother over the next few years to track all monies and furthermore commit to share with anyone who donates or wishes to donate upon request. 2. Any overage collection amount and any amount from litigation that is not required per the recovery plan will be donated to another person in need and be openly shared.
Organizer
Ernest Elizardo
Organizer
Garland, TX
