My name is Shiann and I’m the sister of Geno. He’s 15 and in a predicament that none of us expected.

He was diagnosed about a year ago with scoliosis and was told if not corrected, he’d become paralyzed. But obviously, surgery at first was not wanted if not needed. However, each visit showed no improvement, and his back looked as it did in the first half of the main photo on here. So, surgery became mandatory. He went into surgery Monday the 15th to get rods put in at about 7:30 am and did not get out until almost 8 pm because there were bone fragments missed that were tucked under his spine and caused nerve signals to stop. They had to stop and figure out what had happened (that’s when they found the bone fragments). They removed them, and the signal came back but weak. So, after they closed him up, he had been technically under for almost 13 hours to only get a 50% fix. They put him in ICU for 2 1/2 days to put a PICC line in his neck and give him medication to raise his blood pressure to hopefully jump-start the nerves to where they should be from what I put together.

So fast forward to the day he was taken out of ICU, his movements seemed to be okay enough, and everything was good enough to get in a normal room. We were told Friday or today, the 20th, that he’d come home, but that changed quickly as they had to put a catheter in because he can’t urinate on his own. He also isn’t really improving in physical therapy because he has no control of his legs; they’re extremely numb. They then stated he’d be moved to another floor and be there for another 2 weeks for extensive physical therapy. Then today, the doctor said he has someone coming in to see Gino at the end of the 3rd week in October. Nobody knows if this is permanent or just a long recovery time, but this has definitely impacted him and impacted my parents tremendously as they have 4 other kids, 2 that are attending school. They will now have to travel an hour each way from the hospital to their house to tend to both Gino and the other kids at home. This has also slowed income from coming in as they both are trying to be with Gino and be everywhere else they’re needed. They’re burnt out just from being told all they have in the last 5 days and watching their son, who should be home in his own bed, struggling. They are such humble people that always figure it out. They didn’t ask for help, but they’re tired, and they deserve to be with their son.

I know times are tough and we’re all struggling in our own ways, but anything helps, even a share and a prayer.

Thank you