Javi’s end of life Celebration

My name is Crystal Cuevas, and I am Javier Rodriguez’s wife. I’m here to help tell his story. The funds raised from this campaign will be used directly towards all of Javier’s funeral cost, included but not limited to funeral Home, cemetery, gravestone, and choice of clothing. Thank you all who were touched by our story and either shared, or donated. After 10 years, Javi’s fight is finally coming to an end. For those who don’t know, Javi was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy when he was in 7th grade. He ended up needing a heart transplant his freshman year of high school, and in November of 2011, he got his heart. But, after a few years his body rejected that organ, and at 17 he found himself needing a second heart transplant. He was in the hospital on various machines, and medications for 6 months. He received a second heart transplant on November 16th, 2014. In January 2014, he had a procedure to put in a pacemaker. Once that was done,  life went on. Javi healed, he had great days, good days and he had his bad days followed by many hospital stays throughout the years. But he fought. January of 2019 our life changed right before our eyes, and we didn’t even know. Javi caught pneumonia, and quickly it spread. Within days he was intubated and had to be sedated. January 12th, 2019, he went into cardiac arrest. Took about 6-7 minutes for doctors to do different CPR methods to bring him back. Once a heartbeat was found,  they immediately prepped him to be put him on a life support machine called ECMO. He was on the breathing machine and ECMO for almost 2 weeks before doctors decided he was in the clear to be without the extra support. The result of that, was that his kidneys barely functioned. So he had to be placed on dialysis, and he had a catheter placed in his chest. After that, Javi spent weeks in the hospital, in a rehab facility, then back home for a few days, maybe a few weeks until he’d be back in the hospital. He was placed on the ECMO and intubated again during one of his hospital stays. While all of this was happening, I was pregnant. Javi wanted nothing more than be a daddy to his babygirl. Come July, Javi fought his hardest to see his daughter be born, and he accomplished just that. While I was being induced, Javi was being wheeled up to my hospital room. He would get so swollen, from retaining so much fluid, that’d it’s be difficult to walk or wear regular gym shoes. But, Javi made sure he got to see the birth of his child. 4 days after our baby was born, javi checked into the hospital again and spent the next 2 and a half months there. After a few weeks, he was released into a rehab, and on October 9th, he surprised me finally at home. Life felt great, our family was finally together after a rough few months. Unfortunately that lasted about a week. Javi again, was rushed to the ER at 4 am and this time, no one was sure that he was going to make it. He was fighting a life threatening infection called sepsis. Doctors caught it early enough, but overall his kidneys, blood stream, and heart were all deteriorating. They had to cut open his thigh to scrape out some other type of infection that led to the sepsis he had, but he was so fragile, it took a few weeks to close that open wound and do a skin graft surgery. Javi’s body by this point, was tired. And couldn’t handle anything else being done to it. Doctors talked to him and told him, that he was running his course and options were very limited on what could be done if he caught another infection. After 10 years of fighting he made the decision to live out his last few day’s with the help of hospice. In our time of need, we ask for whatever help anyone can give so we can make the preparations for Javi’s departure. As a family, we are all trying to give javi the end of life celebration he deserves. We would love to be able to provide him with everything he asked for. Javi is a fighter, and beat the odds many times. He’s impacted so many peoples’ lives, and hopes to continues to do so. Please read the article the Chicago tribune wrote. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-hospital-marriage-20191127-6p52zsplnfbe3ls3xpxod45u6q-story.html With love, Crystal Cuevas-Rodriguez