As many of you know my Pop,
”Nicky Colooochi” (as his favorite little friend, Sydney Rae calls him) has been in a rehab for losing his lower left leg to diabetes last September.
He’s been struggling through Covid not having a hug or any physical contact from his family for 8 months now.
They couldn’t rehabilitate during the better part of 5 months because it took so long to get the right prosthetic.
Three months ago he acquired an Auto Immune disease named Bullous Pemphegoid which cause his immune system to attack his skin and causes water blisters all over his body. There is no cure and it’s chronic. This pushed him back even further in his rehabilitation.
Yet, he smiled through each and every blow, taking on role as art teacher and helping the elderly patients learn to enjoy drawing and coloring books. He told jokes and sang oldies with them.
The staff of the rehab commended him for bringing light and energy to an otherwise gloomy group.
So Amazing! What a beautiful spirit to help others when you are broken yourself ❤️
My Pop, like many people in his age group thought, “never happen to me!!” But it did and he was ill prepared financially living on a moderate income and limited long term insurance, with no savings for something THIS catastrophic.
He is now at over $80k in medical debt and needs certain things now to leave the rehab by December 2.
I was told by several
friends and family members to start a campaign to help him get a head start when he gets out, paying off some of the medical debt and obtaining some private care for the first 6 months until he gets use to caring for himself.
It would be amazing to make the transition back into “normalcy” as painless as possible. After 15 months of hospitals and rehabs, he’s all but institutionalized and will need great care getting acclimated to the real world again. This will include making his apartment handicap friendly and getting 6 months of in-home, personal care, which he is not covered for and paying down some of these medical bills.
And just as important to me, personally,...my Pop has been “St.Nick” to many people all through my life. Always infecting everyone around him with childlike excitement during the Christmas holidays and showing love to his community by dressing as Santa each Christmas. In honor of his love for Christmas I’d like to ask that if you can’t donate for financial reasons (I understand it’s been a rough year for many) than send a Christmas card with good wishes to:
St.Nick Colucci
P.O Box 181
Lagrangeville, NY 12540
Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for your kindness, generosity and support. ❤️❤️❤️