Help Rick Del Rio With Lung Transplant Expenses

Rick Del Rio suffered from a prolonged exposure to sulfuric acid injury in 2019 which damaged his lungs. This led to the development of a lung disease called Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD). ILD causes scar tissue to form in the smallest parts of your lungs where the oxygen and carbon dioxide transfer. ILD only ever spreads and gets worse, it will never improve or go away.

Rick is now on the Lung Transplant list at the University of California, San Francisco Transplant Center (UCSF). We could get the call for Rick to drive to San Francisco any time day or night and we have to be there within 5 hours of getting the call in order to receive his new lungs! After the surgery, Rick will be in the hospital for a minimum of 2 weeks; 1 week in ICU and 1 week in a normal recovery room. Once Rick is released from the hospital, we will have to stay in San Francisco for a minimum of 2 months. There will be 2 to 4 appointments to attend every day. To ensure we make these appointment, the hospital requires us to stay within 30 minutes driving distance from the hospital and we can not stay across any bridges... this means living in San Francisco for a minimum of 2.5 months. After he is released to come back home to Carmichael, there will still be traveling back and forth to San Francisco sometimes as much as 2 times a week for 6 months to a year.

Lung Transplants are the most difficult transplant to receive, recover from, and survive. Rick will require 24/7 assistance for almost all of his needs for the first 3 months after the surgery. He will need to be in a comfortable and homey place and so we hope to find an apartment to stay in for his recovery rather than having to stay in a hotel. Regardless, either a hotel or apartment will be very expensive. The kids will be living at home while Rick and his wife, Rachel, have relocated to San Francisco for Rick's surgery and recovery. This means they will be paying the bills to maintain 2 households at the same time! Rick will also be on a minimum of 27 different medications for the first 3 months after his surgery to ensure there is no infection and that his body does not reject the new lungs. As the months pass there will be less medications needed but he will be on medications for the rest of his life. There will also be miscellaneous medical bills that will need to be paid during this time and for the rest of his life.

We hope that with your help, Rick and his loved ones will be able to focus all of their energy on his healing and recovery after the surgery, rather than worrying how they are going to pay the many bills to maintain 2 households. Thank you for any amount that you can donate for covering the bills generated by this situation. We appreciate any and all support. We hope that with your generosity Rick will have a smooth recovery and live many years to enjoy and spend with his family and friends.