Steven’s Endless Fight To Survive Has Ended

February 13, 2025:

Sunday, February 9, 2025, after a long, painful battle, my big brother, Steven, let his final breath go. It was mid day when it happened suddenly. A week before, the hospital transitioned him into Hospice. Like many times before, we thought Steven would hold on longer than we expected.

But Steven was finally ready to let go. And now, he's free from pain, free from the long fight.

My mother and me are working through this difficult time of acceptance after the last four years but especially, the last year that transformed our every day reality. Our lives were on hold as we helped Steven fight the unexpected diagnosis after diagnosis that kept him in that hospital for eleven months.

Right now, after the last year of not being able to work consistently as my mother lived in the hospital room helping train nurses daily on wound care, peg tube maintenance, and observing to make sure the right medications were being give to my brother, our finances, as many of your know, took a huge hit, making surviving and having a house to live in difficult to maintain.

It's wild how expensive any kind of funeral arrangements, even cremation is. The last thing loved ones want to have to think about after losing someone.

We want to thank everyone who have been generous and giving the last 2 years. You gave us such hope and relief.

If anyone would like to, one last time, to help us honor Steven and give him what he wanted, which was a memorial where everyone who cared for him could come and see him, one last time, listen to music he liked (he loved Michael Jackson and Puerto Rican oldies), and tell stories about him, we'd be honored for any help anyone feels inclined to give.

Thank you again for believing with us that Steven could get better and have a home to relax in. He had that for a small time.

November 2024 Update:

The day after his birthday, Steven has fallen back into the hospital since March 2nd, 2024. Eight months later, he is currently still in the hospital. Steven has found himself in and out of ICU these eight months. His mother and legal guardian (due to his mental disability from his car accident when he was 13) has had to sleep and live at the hospital in his rooms this entire time.

Steven's complex diagnosis have put him on a ventilator multiple times this year after losing function in his left lung as his right lung continues to collapse, requiring someone to advocate for his survival and that person is his mother.

Steven is a fighter. There have been many close calls where doctors believed he wouldn't live. Recently, his kidneys began failing and doctors told his family to prepare for the worst. Once again, Steven fought against the odds and his kidneys have improved in the last week. Though side affects from the damage have lingered.

His mother again finds herself unable to work as she must stay day and overnight by his side to prevent further malpractices as unfortunately, there have been many. Nurses and Doctors have encouraged her to stay, confirming that her being there 24/7 is why he is still alive today.

The family struggles and needs your help.

The eight month stay was entirely unexpected. But once he was admitted in March, it has been one diagnosis after another in addition to consequences from lack of proper care from hospital staff.

For example: His large open sores have gotten infected (sores he received at the hospital) and required fully scraping and cleaning them out. He lives currently bed bound, on his back, laying on these open wounds with minimal wound care specialists tending to them daily to avoid further life-threatening infections. His mother has to teach the nursing staff how to perform wound care in addition to other care-taking tasks that the staff leave in her hands to do.

Currently, Steven lives in constant excruciating pain. He receives heavy pain medications and spends the hours following till his next dose begging for more, the pain is so bad. He has grown depressed and very fearful of being left alone. He gets anxious when he doesn't see his mother by his side, day and night.

The family has fallen behind with rent and have reached the end of their lease. If they are not able to catch up, they will lose the opportunity to renew their lease. With being at the hospital daily, the family can not afford to attempt house hunting and they can not afford to cover the finances required to move somewhere new (which would require a minimum of three months rent in advance).

We do not know when or if Steven will come home. He misses his room. He misses his stuff. He misses eating food, being able to drink water as he is on year 3 of living with a peg tube.

His single mother has fought every day for her son. In doing so, she can not give her business the attention needed. The family fears making it to the end of the year.

Your donations will help Steven's family to not add fear and stress of where they'll live. We still believe and hope for him to one day come back home, to his room and all his favorite things.

Help Steven have a home to come back to. If you can not financially help, sharing his story via this GoFundMe and getting it in front of the eyes of those who are in the position to help would be monumental and so greatly appreciated.

Thank you so much to all who have given! We are so beyond thankful and blessed by your donations. They have given us hope during some dark times.

Thank you for your time.

If you're interested in reading Steven's history, feel free to continue below:

At 13 years of age, he was hit by a drunk driver in New York and suffered head trauma injuries among other body injuries, remained in a coma for a few weeks, spent many months at the hospital and later, years in rehabilitation and different programs, but survived.

Covid hit in 2020, Steven fell and had to be sent to a rehabilitation hospital. Within a few days, he was sent to the emergency hospital with Covid. He spent many months at the hospital in the Covid unit fighting for his life, and once again, Steven fought and survived.

However, his health and body was not the same and became very fragile and weak thereafter. Within a year after Covid, it was discovered that he was not able to eat and swallow properly, they (the hospital) found his food going to his lungs and not to the stomach. After many tests, they recommended that he needed to wear a Peg Tube in his stomach where he would be fed a special milk and nothing else; no food or liquids via mouth.

Steven loved all kinds of foods but when this happened, the idea of not eating the way he used to sent him into a deep depression. He didn’t want to live with this situation. He fell into a deep dark state of mind, but eventually, after much praying, and with hopes that it would not be permanent, he accepted and adjusted months later as best as he could.

After the Peg tube was put in, he started having cases of pneumonia, due to aspiration which put him in the hospital for months at a time. But every time, he survived and came back home to continue treatments, therapies, among a regimen of medicines such as oxygen as needed in order to help him breath. Throughout all this hardship, once again, Steven survived. Emotionally. Mentally. Physically.

Over a year ago, Steven was admitted at a new hospital and was wrongly diagnosed. They said he had a heart emergency issue which turned out to be misdiagnosed and they had to remedy it. Days later, they found that he was suffering from pneumonia due to aspiration, however, since his lungs were neglected for some days (because they focused on the heart first) his lungs became full of fluids. He ended up with a respiratory failure, at which time he had to be intubated immediately. Steven spent many months on a ventilator. Over a month within that time, he was in an induced coma.

His 65 year old single mother for over 35 years has dedicated her time to nourish him, care for him and be by his side constantly before, during, and after each of these hospital visits. He depends on her as his Mother and legal guardian.

Steven needs a spacious room where he can have his hospital bed, oxygen tanks, lift, wheel chair and his only source of entertainment, his TV where he can see his favorite WWE fights, and his games, mostly WWE games.

They find themselves with NO programs to help them move into a house where he can have a first-floor room that is also close to a major hospital as per his doctor’s recommendations.

He needs special physical therapy, swallowing therapy, among other treatments, that his Medicaid insurance continues to deny.

Most importantly, he needs and deserves to live in a decent comfortable home where he can have the things he needs, especially all the medical equipment used for his daily care.

Currently, during this recent extended hospital stay, he has lost function of his left lung, his right keeps filling with fluids and collapsing, requiring multiple bronchoscopy procedures which are a risky every time and places him back in the ICU on a ventilator. In addition to his peg tube which he's had, this year, they had to put in a colostomy bag due to the open wounds on his underside that wouldn't heal due to lack of proper and attentive care from the hospital staff.

The last 4 years have been a great struggle for the family. And yet, Steven used to smile and find moments where he wasn't focused on where he was and what his body was doing. Lately, those smiles are fewer and far between.

Thank you for your time. We appreciate you.