Help for Frank and Pauline Bavaro

Hey y'all, my name is Julia Bavaro. This is going to be a bit of a read, so I hope you can bear with me. 

 

On Thursday, January 6th at 3:07AM, I received a panicked call from my sister-in-law, Brittney Bavaro. Apparently my Mom, Pauline, had just called her basically freaking out because my Dad, Frank, wasn't responsive. He was panting, moaning, and couldn't respond to anything. Britt lives a half hour away in Avella, so she called me. Luckily, I'm a night owl, so I immediately called my Mom, and after hearing my Dad panting in the background, I threw my boots back on, ran out of my house and called 911 on my way over there.

 

When I got there, my Dad was awake and aware but, to my untrained eye, it seemed like he simply had no control over his own movements. Even as a writer, I can't even describe the look of fear in his eyes as I stood over him trying to find anything to make him feel better. He seemed to like the feeling of my cold hands on his face, though, which makes sense when you consider that he was running a 104 fever, which we didn't learn until later.

 

The paramedics arrived and informed us that he was "afib", and after I corralled my Dad's fur-kids behind a gate, they wrapped him in a sheet and carried him to the ambulance.

 

When we got to the Washington Hospital, they treated him as best as they could, but informed us that without a ventilator, he wouldn't survive the night. According to the doctor, if we had been even a half hour later, he wouldn't be here right now. He was diagnosed with Covid-Pneumonia. About an hour after we arrived, my Dad woke up enough to approve the ventilator, and since then he's been sedated and has remained on the ventilator. There's been minor improvements, and he's been steady at around 95-98% blood/oxygen levels...but he still is unable to breathe on his own. They've been trying to wean him off of the ventilator, but the covid severely damaged his lungs, and now they need time to heal. Problem is, we're not sure how much time, but the general consensus is that it's going to take a while...and he may never be able to breathe as well as he once did. Currently, his ventilator is set at 50%, which is progress.

 

 

Luckily, my Dad's a pretty healthy guy. Many of you know him as the handy man and mechanic of our family. That's still true even at 66 years old. For the past year, he's worked as a Pizza Delivery Driver at Grande Jr's, and for the past two months or so he started delivering with Uber Eats and Door Dash just to make ends meet.

 

As many of you know, my mother, Pauline, is disabled. My Dad has always worked. For most of my childhood and adult years, he worked two or three jobs at a time just to stay afloat. I'm proud to say he is where I learned my work ethic from.

 

Needless to say, however, we are not a well-off family, and my parents do not have a nest-egg to fall back on. Us kids can only help so much, as we all have our own families and monetary responsibilities. With this, I'm hoping to give them enough so that when he comes out of the hospital, the only thing he has to worry about is getting better. Stronger. Healthier. And Happier. Unfortunately, bills don't stop just because you're in the hospital. We don't want him to have to worry about his mortgage payment, gas, electric, water, sewer, car payment, my mom's medication or anything else. We want him to focus on what makes him happy, his guitar, his Church, and loving on his many grandbabies.

 

I know many of you know and love my Dad. Many of you call him Father Time, because he's always been everyone's fall-back Dad when they needed help with their car or a big ol' truck to haul some furniture, or somebody to just chill and talk about classic rock and blues with. He's always been there for us kids, even when we pissed him off. Now, we're trying to be there for him. But, we can't do it alone. So, we're asking all of you to help us help him. All funds donated will go directly into his bank account, which will be used to continue to pay his bills. These include: Mortgage, car payment, car insurance, home insurance, gas, electric, water/sewer, garbage, cable/internet, cell phones, credit card, financing for his dentures, life insurance, dog food, and my mom's medications. I'm sure there's something I'm missing, but those are the important ones. I wasn't sure what amount to put as the goal, but I'm hoping to keep him worry free for at least 3 months, so he's not rushing to go back to work.

Anything helps. Every share helps. Your thoughts, good vibes, and prayers help. Thank you for reading. 

-Julia Bavaro