Papi Pedro (paralyzed stroke victim in ICU)

Anyone that knows my father knows exactly how proud & hardworking of a person he is, & much of that has been inculcated in me during the formative years of my upbringing, so asking for help in a time of need is proving to be putting us both in an especially vulnerable situation since we don’t accustom to do so. We like to work hard for the little we have & earn our keep in the family, with him even working 2 jobs at his ripe 64 years of age; though his cheery disposition will fool you into being convinced he is age-fluid with his ever-vibrant spirit, always ready to spread love & laughter. He has truly lived up to his name by proving to be the ‘rock’ in not only our immediate family, but rather in our extended family as a whole. He’s always been an otherwise active individual that likes to keep himself busy & innately born ready for any obstacle that comes his way as he surpasses with flying colors with each and every pang, but these last few months have taken quite the toll on his health as it started to rapidly decline with the onset of contracting Covid-19 & subsequent series of unfortunate events. I don’t even know where to begin..

Around mid-March he started to feel extremely ill, & it wasn’t until about a week later that he was indeed diagnosed w/ corona virus. After spending over a week’s time in the ICU in early April, he was finally sent home on oxygen & blood-thinners as I continued to take care of him in his fragile state at home. As it turned into late April, his health started to improve & was able to move around the house & breathe on his own, even to the point of returning back to both his jobs after being cleared from the virus in early May.

I decided then that it was an opportune moment as any for a getaway of my own from all that we had been dealing with. 2 weeks abroad is what I had planned; but of course, nothing goes according to plan. As I continued to enjoy my initial stay, I was victim of a crime the night before I was set to fly back home. They had broken into our place & stolen several items, including my backpack (that contained my passport, bank card, & ID). The security at the U.S. Embassy was increasingly stubborn in letting me in to be attended seeing as they won’t let anyone without an official appointment in (even in emergency situations), considering the fact that passport service appointments are currently booked out until 2022. After countless calls/emails, 5 visits to the Embassy, & 3 additional weeks stranded abroad until they attended my case, I was finally homeward bound. Little to my knowledge, the stress was still pouring in on the home front during my absence the last 5 weeks. I had been in contact with my family the entire time, several times a day. I found it particularly strange that my father hadn’t called me nor answered any of my several calls on multiple platforms the last two days before inevitably making my way back home to him. I was so excited to tell him about finally achieving the possession of a temporary passport & to discuss the arrangement of being picked up once I landed.

We all found it truly strange that none of us had heard back from him in over 48 hours taking into consideration his incessant responsive nature whenever initially contacted, so we decided to send a police welfare check on him. It was not until 4 hrs before I landed back in the States that my father was found passed out on the floor covered in his own excrement, & had been laying there for 2 days’ time, alone. He was still breathing when found, & rushed to the ER. When I landed mere hours later, I rushed straight from the airport to the hospital, myself. This brings me to the point of our current situation where he finds himself back in ICU after suffering from a massive stroke that has left him paralyzed on one side & unresponsive, yet conscious. The medical team says it may have been consequence of his unattended high blood pressure, or perhaps a lingering side effect from Covid, but I know in my heart it was induced from taking on the undue stress from everyone in the family that was taking place while I was gone. Between me being stranded abroad for weeks on end with no cooperation from the embassy, my sister being evicted from her current place then getting locked up for violation of parole, having to find a place of our own at month’s end seeing as our landlords aren’t resigning a lease with us since they are fixing to sell the house for their retirement, & my mother having a facial stroke just days before my father’s cerebral stroke; it just proved to be too much all at once, spreading himself too thin working 2 jobs in order to provide before even fully recovering from his initial downtrodden condition. 

Now it’s my turn to remain strong for my family, & live up to my name given at birth. A Junior of sorts, just in different languages. Pedro=Peter=Rock. At the same time, I can’t do this alone. This is the first time I’ve ever reached out for financial assistance in any form, in efforts of being a source of redemption to my broken family. Between the medical debt of his last hospital visit as well as this current one (since he’s uninsured), both of our forcible lengthy timeouts from the workforce due to unforeseen occurrences, as well as constantly providing for others in our family, it has left us completely depleted of any funds of our own. If you have the means to be of assistance in my case (in any way, shape or form it may present itself in), I would be forever grateful for your kindness departed on our behalf, for we need it now more than ever. I’ve spoken to my landlords, & though they still plan on moving forward with selling the house, they’ve granted me the provision of being able to stay here until the 15th of July as opposed to scooting me out in a few days’ time. I’m searching for something smaller that I can downgrade us to, while still keeping the hope alive that Papi will indeed be recovering & eventually moving into our new place together. He deserves to live the rest of his days in peace with no mental unrest insight. At the current moment I’m reaching out to just be able to afford first, last & deposit on a new place & be able to maintain myself as I continue to look after my father in his time of need. I want to be there with him daily, & cannot bring myself to being apart from his side every step of the way of recovery. I will worry about all the medical bills later, but for the time being I need to take baby steps in moving forward (as does he). As I write this plea with tears streaming down my face, I thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your consideration in all things, & am hopeful that I will step into the role of being the hero my family needs me to be at the moment. Many blessings to you & yours, from me & mine.