Maribel may your dad RIP. We love you

Maribel Ramirez' Statement: To all my friends. My father is in critical condition after an accident in which he fractured two cervical vertebrae while on vacation in Brazil. He had travel insurance but it only covers a fraction of air ambulance transportation, which is very expensive. We don’t have the total cost, but the first estimate for the care my dad needs came at over 100k. We are trying to raise 40k to cover the difference. I realize it’s a lot of money, but I need to get my family home. I am currently in Rio de Janeiro with him and his 83 year old wife, my second mother. Thank you to any of you who can assist us by contributing and/or sharing.

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If you are reading this please help any way you can.  Nothing will be too   small of a contribution.  I am creating this Go Fund me on behalf of my second family.  My best friend Maribel is in great need of all your prayers and help.  Her father has been critically injured in Brazil and they are fighting to get him back to the States for care here.

Her stepmom and dad are the cutest couple you could ever meet.  They love adventure and have been world travelers since they met 20 some years ago.  Because they are getting older (80's shh)  they decided this would be their last international trip.  They decided after this one they would stick to the continental USA.  As responsible travelers they bought travel insurance and off they went on a Royal Caribbean Cruise to Brazil.  When they got to Rio de Janeiro they had scheduled as part of their trip to go see Christ the Redeemer.  That is when their life changed forever.  Once done with the tour, it was hot and the guide was nowhere to be found.  They decided to rest on a wall shorter than 3 feet high.  No protective fence around this particular section of the wall.  Her stepmom is not sure what happened next.  If he lost his balance, if he tried to get up and instead sat back, or if he got dizzy and fell.  He ended up falling down a ravine full of tree roots and ended up between a wire fence and a concrete wall.   Following the fall there was no one onsite to help.  The ambulance took a long time to there while he was bleeding from his head wounds.  Once they got there they struggled to get him out.  They took him to a public hospital on Sunday Dec 1, 2019.  No doctors were on duty.  He received first aid for his head wounds.  The next day when doctors arrived he was operated on. After the operation he has been on a ventilator and his status is paraplegic.  Four days later they suggested he get a tracheotomy.

They told Maribel he broke his C2 and C3 cervical vertebrae.  Since then both her and her stepmom have been going thru hell getting conflicting information or lack of information.  The hospital refuses to release him so he can be air transported to the States.  As of Monday Dec 9, 2019, Maribel was able to speak with the doctor who completed the operation.  He said her father broke his C6 vertebrae and that he is a quadriplegic.  It seems every day they get more devastating news. 

At this hospital they are keeping him on a ventilator, this can be indefinitely.  Because it's a public hospital in a 3rd world country the conditions are less than desirable and so is the care or lack of.  

Brazil is getting ready for Christmas and they have told Maribel it gets really loud and it's a party in the streets...
They are not going to leave her dad behind.  It's been 2 weeks now and counting.  She needs to get her parents back home  ASAP.  Her stepmom is running out of medication.  They will run into more and more problems until they are home.

Today she has been in contact with the US Embassy and is doing whatever she can to get him back to the USA.  Today with the help of the Embassy she was told there were 3 requirements they had to meet in order to bring him back.  She has paperwork to fill out. She needs a letter from the receiving hospital and she needs to absolve the Air Transport company of responsibility if something happens to her dad.

She is meeting all the requirements and today she got her quote to finally bring him home.  Are you ready?  $117, 000 USD
Her dad, even at his age, was gainfully employed and his employer of 27 years is offering to pay for a chunk of the air transport and the travel insurance will take care of $25,000 and her step mom will put in all of her life savings and will have nothing left if he passes.

I would like us all to take a minute and please contribute and share this with as many people as possible because this family will need as much money as we can all contribute.  Maribel will have to take FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) so she can assist her family any way she can,  FMLA is unpaid.  Her mom will have nothing after this.  I cannot express the sorrow this family is going thru and will have to go thru in the weeks to come.  Please please please anything will make a difference.  Anything.

Thank you so much for reading and making a difference in good people's life.