Support Chef Rafa's Recovery from a Car Accident

My name is Jesse and I am writing this on behalf of my older brother, without his knowledge. My brother, known to many as Chef Rafa, Rafa, Rafael, the Empanada guy, the Empanada Man, is the owner of Zoelily Empanadas the food truck. My brother was the front passenger in a car accident on October 29th 2024, where the car impacted with another vehicle and went spinning out, the other vehicle flipped over. Thankfully, my brother says it was lucky no lives were lost, and that it must not have been his time to go yet. Although there were no casualities that doesn't mean there were no injuries. The entire left side of my brother's body was impacted. He had large, purple bruises from his left hip, thigh and knee. There was additional red bruising on his face, arm, and back. My brother thought he had broken his leg because he was in a tremendous amount of pain and could not stand. He has continued to suffer in pain since the accident. At the hospital they saw no broken bones and it was presumed a soft tissue injury. Complications have arisen since, an Orthopedic Doctor saw his knee and wants a specialist to further evaluate it and in his back they have found a herniated disc. The doctor wants to treat the knee first because it will affect his gait and could be contributing to the back pain. The fear is there may be something torn in his knee. He describes the pain as severe and has been getting little relief from the pain medication. He now can barely stand for long periods of time without discomfort. Just after Thanksgiving, my brother had to go to the hospital three times for excruciating back pain that left him nearly immobile. This was hard for me to see. My brother struggled just to get up and walk. It is difficult to say if surgery may be needed to alleviate his pain, only time will tell but unfortunately this also hurts his business. To complicate the issue, my brother is still dealing with the unfair beauracracy of our hometown that has limited his ability to work and make any kind of income. This is now a further set back for his main goal of getting back out there and bringing back the empanadas everyone knows and loves. All he wants is to get back out there and he's told me he's had a difficult time not being able to be out there working at his spot because he wants to make his Zoelily Familia happy. He says many have written to him and he apologizes and has and was looking for solutions for a new spot. This will be an expensive and difficult time for my brother and I will do everything I can to support him but there are limitations in what I can do as a baby sister. Medical bills are piling up, normal bills, he just had to relocate his truck to a new overnight location and lost some product in the move. I am asking for anyone who knows my brother or even someone who enjoys one of his delicious Empanadas as much as I do, to please donate to this GoFundMe to help pay for his medical costs and getting him back on his feet and to help make sure Zoelily Empanadas can come back stronger than ever. He has taken a social media pause because he is clearly depressed about the situation he's in and has been dealing with it the best he can.