Donate to Help Bring Andre Home

Meet Andre Ali.. Son, Brother, Father, Uncle, Friend, Soulmate..Musician... Beach Lover..overall Lover of Life. Andre, also known as Dre, has a life motto.. " Choose Happy." He smiled at the world at brought a level of love and fun into everything and everyone he met.

On March 24, Dre suffered a heart attack. Having his blood sugar reach over 1000, Dre ended up being non responsive for 20 minutes and went without oxygen to his brain for that timeframe. He ended up on life support and in a coma for 27 days. The family was advised that he would not make it and if he woke from the coma, he would live life as a vegetable with no comprehension. The family continued with hope and prayer but had to also prepare for a decision that no family should ever have to do, making the decision to pull him off life support in case he never woke up . After 16 days in the hospital, in ICU, and with no response to verbal interaction, the family prepared for potential final life services. As a Lover of the beach, the family decided for cremation and that Dre's ashes would be spread in his favorite place, the ocean.

On April 20th, the miracle happened. God answered the prayers! The hospital called to say Dre had opened his eyes..he was awake from his coma!

Dre was downgraded from ICU into the cardiac center in Memorial Regional. Though he had woke from his coma, Dre could only move his eyes. He could not move any other part of his body and had no ability to speak. The 20 minutes he went without oxygen to his brain, caused brain damage so Dre had to re-learn everything again..how to move his head..his arms., fingers, legs, feet, torso, how to eat, speak , sit ,walk..every function the body could do had to be retrained. Dre spent the next 16 days responding by blinking his eyes- once for yes and twice for no until he regained his speech. Dre woke up with a positive attitude and little and attempted to move a new body part daily.

Dre spent 82 days in the hospital and has regained aproximately 30% back of his body functions. He can now talk, move his hands, breathe on his own and is learning how to eat again.

Dre is still us unable to sit up by himself , walk and we also discovered when he was able to speak again that he is unable to see. The news about his vision complicates his learning as this poses an additional challenge to relearn every function. The good news is Dre is a fighter and is not giving up!

On June 13th, Dre was released from the hospital. He was transitioned into a 1 week rehab center where they are helping Dre to gain strength with all of the remaining functions, as well as teach the family how to care for Dre as he is expected to transition back home next Tuesday.

As he transitions back to his home, Dre will need a special bed with full function to be moved as he currently cannot do so on his own. He will need a wheelchair with tilt motion support to help move him. He will also need a lift so the family can help move him out of bed into a wheelchair.

Waiting for Medicaid approval (which can take up to 4 months) Dre currently has no medical insurance. The family will have to purchase all his medical equipment, as well as medical prescriptions, which include daily insulin shots, veraged at aproxiamtely $1000 monthly.

Through all of this, Dre has never lost his fighting spirit, his will to live is strong! He has an incredible can do attitude. We know the road ro recovery is not an easy one but Dre is up for the challenge. We are thankful for the second chance that God has given us in Dre. We know his mission is not complete and is for a greater power. Any bit of financial help that can be given to the family is very much appreciated. We know these are not easy times for anyone but we thank you I'm advance for taking the time to read Dre's journey and appreciate and thank you in advance. God bless!