Helping Caryl In Recovery

Hi everyone, my name is Princess and I’m Caryl’s youngest daughter. What started off as stomach pain evolved into a life changing experience for my father this past July. Following a car accident that occurred in February, Caryl started experiencing terrible abdominal pains. Trying to hold off on a premature doctor visit, he tried to let the pain subside itself. Eventually it became unbearable and in the early morning of July 13th 2023, he was admitted to the hospital. The first few days doctors and hospital staff did not know the magnitude of the situation which only continued to escalate. My mother, Veronica, who was and continues to always be by his side had to make the decision for an invasive surgery which would remove a large portion of necrotic intestines from my dad.

That time for the family was the most difficult, because we were putting the life of someone so important to us, in the hands of strangers, albeit doctors. When we learned that the surgery was a success there were so many emotions between all of us, as we knew that even with this great news there was still a long road ahead of us. My father remained unconscious after surgery to try to allow his body to heal, along with the reality that being awake after what he had been through would most likely be excruciating. The local hospital after performing their procedure couldn’t provide the necessary level of care, so our next destination was a specialty hospital in Washington, DC or New York City. After a week of impatiently waiting for a bed to open at either location we received the news that he would be transferred via life-flight to Mt Sanai in New York.

Although this hospital was supposed to ease our nerves and assure us that we were on a path the recovery, my father still remained unconscious for another 2 weeks.

After a month of laying unconscious, while sitting by his bedside we watched as Caryl opened his eyes again and smiled at us. These moments at first would be few and far in between but as the days progressed so too did his health. As expected the first couple of days were arduous, especially to communicate since he had been on a ventilator and then transferred to a tracheotomy tube. We read lips, body motions, finger spelling and shaky attempts at writing, though every day we could see our dad, father and friend coming back.

With every good piece of news we received, there was always negative with it. These circumstances though, couldn’t break our spirit or our family and Caryl continued improving at astonishing speeds, being motivated to get out of the hospital and live a fulfilling and healthier life once he was released.

There were many long, spirit-breaking nights endured and days filled with rehabilitation showed progress as he was showing doctors the resilience inside to become better. With time he was released to an inpatient rehab facility and in a weeks time there, was released back home.

Although the battle seems won, there are still many challenges he now faces. These medical obstacles coupled with the slim likelihood that he will be able to return to work is a heavy burden for him alone to carry. With as much as he has done for everyone around him I'm hoping we can show him how much he means to us by supporting him in this tough time.

While we appreciate anything, we know it’s not always available to give. We also appreciate if you can spread the word to family, friends, coworkers, and the community to garner as much support as possible.