Help Bring Richie Home

On Saturday October 16, 2021, we received a devastating call informing us that Richard Garcia Jr. also known by his close family and friends as Little Richie and/or Pow Pow had went into Cardiac arrest and also suffered multiple organ failure.  

Due to Richie going into cardiac arrest, it caused his heart to stop which also stopped blood flow to the brain and organs. If your heart rhythm doesn’t rapidly return to normal, brain damage can occur and or death results. Survivors of cardiac arrest most likely show signs of brain damage.  

As a result, in this unexpected situation, Richie's wife Amanda Garcia stopped her life IMEDIATLEY to stand by Richie's side to keep his family updated and informed of his health and wellbeing. Upon arrival we learned that when Richie went into cardiac arrest, EMT’s arrived and realized Richie was unresponsive and then started CPR. At that point, they weren’t receiving any signs so they proceeded to the next step where they then started resuscitating him. After twenty minutes of trying to catch a signal, they then got Richie into the ambulance where they continued to try for a heart beat on the way to the hospital which upon arrival, they finally got his heart going. That’s a total of 30 minutes without blood flow to his brain and organs. Not including how long was he gone before the 911 call and how long it took for EMT to arrive. 

This was a serious situation. So serious that they were took into a conference room where Richie's doctor labeled himself as an “end of life doctor” that talks to families and help prepare them for what he calls “end of life” for his patients. We were informed that Richie would need a MIRACLE to pull through and that he didn’t think he was going to make it. To make the whole situation worse, we were told in the state of New York they have a law that if you have no brain activity you are pronounced dead and nobody has any power or authority over that. At that moment everyone's heart dropped and there were decisions that needed discussed to prepare ourselves.  

As the days went by, Richie as the fighter he has always been; began to start showing signs of him trying to take breaths over his ventilator. Doing that showed us that Richie isn’t BRAIN DEAD, which also means that we have OPTIONS and anything decided would be a decision as a family which means we have control. That also means that we have time for Richie to fight this fight and try to pull through.  

As of right now, Richie is still in ICU (intensive care) fighting for his life. He is no longer in a medically induced coma, but still also has not come to. He is showing little signs of progress such as his breathing has progressed to almost taking a whole breath, but it's still too inconsistent to take him off of the ventilator. He finally has gag reflex and attempted to open his eyes a qtr. of the way, his heart rate and blood pressure are good and his organs have begun to normalize. His kidney numbers are still not where they need to be, but it's also not bad to where he would need dialysis which is a good thing, but we still need to continue and watch it.  

We still have a very long journey ahead of us and we still need tons of prayer and a miracle. We are currently awaiting his EEG report, which will determine if there’s damage and how much (will he be a vegetable or is there hope that he can rebuild himself). Either way this is going to be the longest journey ever. 

At this very moment Richie's wife Amanda has stopped her whole life for this man and we are all very thankful for her. Due to her not working and Richie being far away from his loved ones, traveling expenses are very tight and things are getting rough. Unfortunately, since Richie is in ICU and due to New Yorks covid restrictions, she is not allowed to sleep by his side. She takes the train, walks and then takes a bus to make sure she makes it to him each and every day. She learned this new life style in the matter of 24 hrs. and changed everything overnight. With that being said, if and when Richie pulls through this, we will be trying to transport Richie to family where they can love and care for him and be closer to the ones that care most. 

Unfortunately, we don’t know how Richie will come back to us. Anything we accumulate will be FIRST for Richie's transport back which won't be easy with all the machines and wires that he is hooked up to and the care he needs, then it will go to any equipment that he may need; if any (fingers crossed) and also obviously for travel cost and expensive so that his wife can care for him and his needs. We WILL NOT GIVE UP! As we all know, Richie is a fighter and we believe in him.