Leonardo’s celebration of love

Leonardo's father wishes to provide an update on both Silvana's health, as well as a message from Leonardo, and new photos.

Silvana remains in stable condition and thanks to the incredible support and care over the last few days, she will be able to undergo another important surgery today (June 4). She will be seen by both orthopedic surgeons, and plastic surgeons. This is a life threatening surgery and she will need more blood and we are unsure what the team will face during the surgery. It is expected to last many hours. They will work to stabilize the pelvis, but also learn more the impact to her muscles and skin...some which needs to be removed or replaced. If there is a moment where all your prayers were needed is now, she needs all this energy to cross this critical point. She will remain sedated for many days after surgery. Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Here is the message Leonardo's father would like to share:

Hi, my name is Leonardo, and I need your help if you can ! I was born to this beautiful city and country on October 27, 2020, at Saint Paul hospital and I'm a Vancouverite like many of you and I always loved this beautiful city !

Since I was born my parents always use buses to go everywhere in this city with my stroller along and I started falling in love with buses and Skytrains. Every time a bus was coming or a Skytrain was showing close my father tells me: Look Leo ... look the bus ... the bus ... and I laugh and laugh because I just love them so much. They became my best friends and they brought me everywhere around this beautiful city. I grow up quick watching the Cocomelon yellow bus and Thomas the train cartoons, my favorites. But I have to admit, lately I start falling in love with Mickey Mouse and Chase and Marshall from Paw Patrol.

When I start walking at the age of 2 years I started grabbing my mom's hands or my father's hands and then haul them to the near bus stop just a block from my home, just to see the buses driving by and I wave at them and laugh and laugh !

Every time she can my Mom brings me to the 374 Pavilion and I never missed the year Celebration there when my big train friend comes out in full force ! I just love it and have been inside that locomotive so many times because my mom was a voluntary worker before too.

You must be sad and I'm too, when you heard about the Horseshoe Bay accident and one of my best friends, the bus, separate me from my best friend in life, yes ... my Mom. We were inseparable and went everyday out to enjoy Vancouver.

Buses are made to connect people and not to separate them, right ? I don't want you to be sad because one of my dearest friends separate me and my Mom, and I thought...together we can do something.

This campaign is not about money and you will see soon ... it's about love !

First, in order to help relieve some of the pain, if you can bring a flower to my friends that drove me around this beautiful city for almost 5 years ! Ask their names and how they are doing ! Buy them a coffee if you can because they are my heros !

My friends who drove me throughout the city are devastated and impacted by what happened with me, and I want to thank them for all the enjoyment they provided me, and help to bring back love and confidence into their hands and that they continue driving all of us safely and comfortably and lovely !

My Mom will miss me a lot if she gets better and I'm praying for her peace. Could you help me to help with her to stay alive, could you pray for her and maybe bring a flower to my new heros, the nurses and doctors at VGH ? She could not be in better hands but we need more prayers for her as soon as you can !

I hope I never have to use 1 cent that has been donated here for my mom and she gets better and happy as she always was everyday before ! This is what I want more than anything and for my father. He has suffered too much loss in his life.

I also would like Translink to help my friends, the drivers, to cope with all of this trauma, and together with us, we can make better bus stops with benches and covering (I got too much rain 265 days per year!), and may build a small memorial at Horseshoe Bay that will bring back happiness and joy to that beautiful Terminal.

I hope we can gather lots of help and if possible in the future I'll donate part or all received here, victims of tragic accidents as I have learned there are changes to laws, and now sometimes they don't help the victims as they should. Maybe that can be changed.

What I need more than anything is your pray for my Mom because I love her so much !

I would like you to visualize my Mom healthy, happy and walking again. And as you picture this image, you really believe this is going to happen and this makes you happy as well.

As you hold the happiness, and you can hold a photo of my mom if you need as she was always happy, manifest this as a future projection, and then join me in this old and original prayer translated from the Aramaic that a young and poor carpenter used to teach:

"Father-Mother ...

... Breath of Life, Source of Sound, Action without Words, Creator of the Cosmos !

Let your light shine within us, between us, and outside of us, so that we can make it useful.

Help us to continue our journey by breathing only the feeling that emanates from You.

May ourself, in the same step, be with His, so that we may walk as kings and queens with all other creatures.

May your desire and ours be one, in all Light, as well as in all forms, in every individual existence, as well as in every community.

Make us feel the soul of the Earth within us, because in this way we will feel the Wisdom that exists in everything.

Don't let the superficiality and appearance of the things of the world deceive us and free us from everything that hinders our growth.

Let us not forget that You are the Power and the Glory of the world, the Song that is renewed from time to time and that beautifies everything.

May your love be only where our actions grow.

So be it !"

*******************************************************************

AJ and I are here to share the heartbreaking news, and reach out to our incredible community for support.

It is with great sadness we share that our dear friend and colleague, Clineu, has suffered an unimaginable tragedy. His beloved son, Leonardo, was tragically killed on Wednesday May 28th in the devastating bus accident at Horseshoe Bay, and his wife, Silvana, remains in the ICU with life-threatening injuries. Their lives, along with others who we pray for, have been changed forever.

Leonardo’s father and his family are from Brazil, and are Canadian citizens who have loved Vancouver which they have called home for many years. In the midst of their grief, they now face incredibly difficult and costly decisions....whether to bring Leonardo home to Brazil for burial if Silvana is able to travel, or to bring family members here to say their final goodbyes.

Silvana's path ahead is long and uncertain. Beyond the physical trauma, there will be the overwhelming emotional toll of losing her only child. As older parents, Silvana and Leonardo’s father had a very small chance of welcoming a child, and as his father said they were blessed with their "1% miracle baby" in late 2020. Silvana wanted nothing more in life than to be a mother, and she was an incredible one. She and Leo were inseparable. On that beautiful Wednesday she wanted to adventure with Leonardo to Bowen Island for the day, as they loved to travel and see new things. They had a wonderful day, sharing pictures with Leonardo’s father throughout.

Silvana's care and rehabilitation will require extensive, specialized support as she works to regain both her physical ability and her sense of purpose.

We are turning to our incredible community for your help to ease the immense financial burden on this family during a time of sorrow no one should have to endure. Your contribution will go toward:

Funeral and transportation costs for Leonardo & travel support for extended family, ongoing medical and rehabilitative care for Silvana

and support for Leonardo’s father and others impacted.

Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Leonardo & Silvana’s tragedy, and we greatly appreciate any support you can offer...if not financial please continue to pray for those deeply impacted.

Theresa, AJ and the AJ's Family