Late in the night on 11/15 or early in the morning on 11/16, my wife’s brother, Chuy Sanchez Garay, was critically injured on the job when a piece of equipment failed to catch his body while he was performing an acrobatic maneuver. Chuy works as an acrobat/aerialist at a popular club in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico. During the show, Chuy and the other performers rely on a series of cables, pulleys, and motors to hoist them safely above and around the venue. When the equipment that Chuy was using failed, he fell from a height of 12-15’ directly onto the stage, where his head and neck absorbed the full force of the impact. The maneuver he was performing required his body to spin at a fast rate laterally above the ground, like how a body rolled in a carpet would spin if the carpet were rolled downhill. If the equipment had been working properly, Chuy’s fall would have been arrested at the end of the spin; however, it did not, and he had no time to react defensively or protect his body in any manner before hitting the ground. The fall fractured his C2 vertebra (in his neck) and caused severe trauma to his brain. The impact also resulted in a dislocated toe, a compound fracture to his finger, and two lost teeth. Chuy was transported by ambulance to the closest hospital in Playa.

Chuy is facing a long road to recovery. After arriving at the hospital on the night of the injury, he had his finger surgically repaired, and his dislocated toe popped back into place. His neck is broken, but his spine is intact and stable; he is not paralyzed. The doctor attributes this to his overall level of fitness and total amount of muscle mass. While Chuy remained in the hospital under observation over the weekend, he began to experience extreme inflammation and swelling around his brain. On the evening of 11/19, he underwent emergency life-saving surgery to drain the buildup of cerebrospinal fluid from his skull. The two-hour-long surgery was successful; however, two days later, on 11/21, imaging showed Chuy’s cerebellum was dangerously inflamed and swollen. Chuy was rushed into a second, more risky/complex surgery an hour after the images were taken in a bid to reduce the swelling and save his life. Both procedures required drilling through the skull. The second surgery took around seven hours and was also successful. Given the nature of his injuries, it is unlikely that Chuy will ever work as an acrobat again. This was his career, and his job was his only source of income. He will need many hours of therapy to rehabilitate his mind and his body. At this point, nobody knows how long Chuy’s recovery will take. At the time of writing this, he is still in the hospital; however, his prognosis is positive, and he can likely make a full recovery. We are asking for donations to be made for Chuy so he can get the help he needs and help him cover his bills (medical and otherwise) until he is able to work again. Anything helps. All donations will be sent directly to Chuy by my wife, Hayde Garay.

Video of Chuy performing (link takes you to Youtube) > https://youtube.com/shorts/zoCFkWEOWOI?si=W1h-qpVQmMyrieYv