Vail Valley Charitable Fund: Our love and his courage were stronger
Vail Valley Charitable Fund
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On Oct. 18, my father, Gustavo, was traveling to Denver when he hit a patch of ice and lost control of his van, rolling his car down a hill and flipping over multiple times. I wasn’t even aware of the accident until later that morning when his phone location showed he was in the Frisco hospital.
Terrified of the unknown, my mom and I began our way to Frisco, only to receive notice that he was going to be flown via helicopter from Frisco to Denver. When we arrived at Common Spirit St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood, we learned he ruptured his C3-4 anterior cervical vertebrae, had five broken ribs, and banged his head, requiring extensive stitches. The injury to his spinal disk caused weakness and tingling throughout his body, thus an excruciating amount of pain. The doctors ultimately said he would need surgery on his spine, or his symptoms could get worse after six months.
At that moment, we were all frightened because of how risky it sounded, but our love for my dad and his courage were stronger. After three hours of waiting, I finally saw my dad. It was an emotional moment for all of us. This man has always been active and on the go, so seeing him in a hospital bed felt unreal. He had to go through physical therapy to start walking again, as his body was weak and he couldn’t keep up.
To this date, my dad can’t return to doing some activities that require heavy lifting, twisting, and turning. This is a very hard reality for him and his family to grasp.
With my dad being on restriction and out of work, everything was challenging as he has always been the main provider in our family. The medical bills kept coming in, and we couldn’t keep up. We found it hard to pay for basic living expenses, too, as he was the main provider in our family. It was then that I heard from a friend about the help that the Vail Valley Charitable Fund provides. I didn’t hesitate to reach out to them. This organization stepped in to help in our time of need, as the struggle was real.
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My father moved to Edwards in 1998 and learned to be hard-working to provide for his family. He initially worked alongside SteamMaster for many years until he built his own carpet cleaning company, Xtreme Cleaning, which has now been around since 2012 and continues to be part of Gustavo’s everyday life. I helped my father grow his company.
The Vail Valley Charitable Fund helped my father focus on healing so that he could return to work and support his family. If you or someone you know is going through a medical crisis, I encourage you to reach out to this nonprofit that helps locals in need. I cannot begin to describe the impact the Vail Valley Charitable Fund had on my family’s lives.
