Help Jairo Through Recovery

Jairo Omido is a dear friend, an integral part of the Fish House team, and an irreplaceable presence in the downtown Lawrence restaurant industry. He has long been a staple in many of our lives, and continues to show us all the endless bounds of his compassion, friendship and laughter. In the early morning of April 25th, he was in a horrible car accident, resulting in being life-flighted to KU Med. Fortunately, Jairo was the only person injured in the accident but he has a long road of recovery ahead of him.

Jairo has already spent 15 nights in the ICU at KU Med, undergone 7 surgeries to try to rebuild both his legs, with two more surgeries to come . While we are all tremendously grateful that he is still here with us today, he will be unable to continue to work while he undergoes future surgeries and begins his rehabilitation. He will be returning to Wichita, KS, his hometown, with his parents to begin physical therapy upon his release from KU med.

Many of us know the horrible financial burden our healthcare system can inflict on a person by no fault of their own, burying them in debts that can be impossible to pay off. In situations like Jairo's, where he is physically incapable of working, he has no choice but to watch the bills pile up and hope for a quick recovery. Until we can create change in the larger system, we must support one another when one of us is forced to take on this challenge. Any one of us could find ourselves in the same position in an instant.

For every time Jairo has greeted one of us warmly, made us feel welcome, put in the extra effort to make our experience working with him or dining out in downtown Lawrence more special, let's give back to him. Not only because he deserves it, but also so we can welcome him back into an industry and community that has cared for him as much as he's cared for all of us.

We all know and love Jairo, have had many a long night, conversation or laugh with him, and we all can’t wait for those days to return. His body may have been broken in the accident but his spirit could never be put out. He is determined to get back to work as quickly and swiftly as his body will allow. He and his family have greatly appreciated all of the thoughts, prayers, and well wishes.If you need any other information feel free to reach out to any of the management staff over at the Fish House, we’d be happy to fill you in and send you his room number, because we all know Jai loves him some plants.

“I just want to thank everyone for their love and support. And I love and miss everybody. There’s not much more that I can say than thank you.” - Jairo