Eduardo needs help: Surgery & Physical Therapy

Hi everyone! My name is Raquel, and I am one of Eduardo's friends. Please read about Eduardo and his broken leg journey.

I met Eduardo my first semester at St. George's University in Grenada. He lives in Grenada with his family, mother, father and two brothers. Eduardo loves to play soccer, and he is the captain of one of the intramural soccer teams on campus. Eduardo is the type of man who will make sure everyone in the room is comfortable and in good spirits. He is well known on campus and smiles at everyone he passes. SGU student body has much love for Eduardo, and we want to help him during this rough phase in his life.

At this time, Eduardo needs to undergo a third surgery. The surgery and the stay at the clinic will cost $10,000. In addition, physical therapy for 12 sessions at $100 per session will cost $1,200. Eduardo and his family need help as this would be the third surgery in the past three months that Eduardo has had to undergo. Unfortunately, Grenada does not have universal health, and his family has been paying out of pocket for everything.

Now onto his broken leg journey:

It was a warm Monday night on March 7th, 2022, when Eduardo and his team were playing a soccer game to make it to the semifinals. Not even 15 minutes into the game, we all heard a loud snap and screams, and all of a sudden, we saw Eduardo on the floor (we could tell because of the bright pink jersey he always wears). The school ambulance takes him to the public hospital of Grenada, where they do X-rays and discover he has broken his right tibia and dislocated his fibula. The doctors also found out that Eduardo's platelet count was very low, and he needed to start taking supplements.

Three days later, Eduardo undergoes surgery on Thursday, March 10th, 2022, the first of many we will later find out. Me and two other close friends visit him at the hospital the next day, where we see him trying to put on a happy face and get through this period of his life, not knowing he will be bedridden for many months to come.

Eduardo returns home and needs to stay in bed immobile with a full leg cast for four weeks until his next follow-up X-ray on April 7th, 2022. His friends and family visit often and try to keep his spirits up. It's hard for Eduardo to be home and sitting still for such a long time because, as I said earlier, he is such a go-getter and is always on the move. Eduardo had to take a leave of absence from his nursing program at SGU since he could not make it to campus for patient interactions. Eduardo is a term four nursing student, and this past spring semester focused on hands-on learning and examinations that he was not able to complete. Towards the end of the four weeks, he is ready to get good news.

On April 7th, 2022, he goes back to the hospital for a follow-up... or so we thought. On the X-rays, the doctors find that his tibia is still separated in 2. There was no progress since the initial break.

On this day, Eduardo underwent his second surgery to try to fix his leg and give him the ability to walk and be happy again. I was afraid of Eduardo going under anesthesia during this surgery because he was not in the best spirits and was mad, sad, and disappointed. This is no way to undergo surgery. Nonetheless, he made it through and was in excruciating pain this time around. The slightest touch and movement caused him to yell out in pain. We visited him at the hospital the day after this surgery, and we could tell the pain was different. During this surgery, the surgeon had put external metal pins around the tibia in the hopes of uniting the two pieces of bone again.

After returning home, Eduardo was in low moods as he was hoping the first surgery would have at least helped a little bit. However, after the second surgery, he was in unimaginable pain and wanted his leg fixed so he could continue with his life. After a few weeks, his pain decreased, but it was still difficult for Eduardo to do anything. During this time, most of his friends went back to the United States since they finished their semester, leaving him more lonely but luckily, he has a fantastic family that is always there.

On May 17th, 2022, Eduardo returned to the hospital for yet another follow-up appointment, where he would be disappointed with the results. The doctor told Eduardo that the bone had slightly deviated and that everything was okay. However, Eduardo wanted a second opinion.

On May 24th, 2022, Eduardo visits a private surgeon in Grenada and hopes to get good news. But, unfortunately, this surgeon said that the deviation in his leg needs to be repaired or else his foot will be inverted and his leg will be bent. Eduardo is taken aback during his appointment because he wants good news, but everything is going poorly.

Please consider donating anything you can to help our Eduardo!!