We got you Pato! Medical Emergency

Meal Support: https://www.mealtrain.com/trains/mge967

Thank you so much to everyone who has donated! You guys have done amazing. We appreciate the support and the kind words, they mean a lot.

New Trier has been an amazing school and is showing up for Pato in so many ways. To all the students, parents and teachers, thank you so much.

Thank you to Scottish Soccer Academy, Simon you are family and we appreciate what the kids and you are doing.

Keep sending your thoughts and prayers to Pato!

Hi,

On April 12, 2023 my little brother Patricio Gilchrist, found himself in a horrible accident. Pato was enjoying a day at Lake Michigan when he hit his head and shattered several vertebrae in his neck. Thankfully, his friends were there to pull him out and call for help. Pato was rushed to the hospital and had to undergo emergency surgery in hopes of mitigating some of the injuries. Pato will spend a couple of weeks in the ICU, then go directly to Shirley Ryan Abilitylab, a rehabilitation center, for around 6 months. We are still waiting for more information from his doctors and surgeons, but we are incredibly grateful that he is alive. As for now he is paralyzed from the neck down.

Pato is one of the happiest, brightest people I know, and I am honored to call him my brother. He is only 18 years old and in his senior year of high school. Pato was planning on attending University of Oregon in the fall and is still looking forward to going when he is better. He is always helping others and lights up every room he enters. He has always been one of my biggest supporters, I truly cannot imagine a life without him and want to be able to give back to him. Pato is optimistic about his recovery and is ready to fight to get better. Today he says he is happy to be alive.

We are fighters and Pato is not going to give up, but we are going to need all the help we can get. So we turn to you, our family and friends, and any other kind souls who are willing to help make this process a little more manageable. Any contributions will be used for Pato’s recovery, his stay at the rehabilitation center, along with the long term outpatient rehabilitation and at-home medical care he will need in the future. We also need to turn our home into something that will be handicap accessible and get a modified van. Pato will likely require a little extra help for the rest of his life, or at least the foreseeable future.

This being said, if there is anything you can contribute to help Pato get his life back on track, and allow my family and I to see Pato reach his fullest potential, we would be more than grateful. I appreciate you all taking the time to read this and if even a prayer or a hopeful thought is all you can contribute at this time, I thank you for taking the time out of your day and caring about Patricio.

With love,

Sara Gilchrist