Incredible Nurse And Dad Left A Quadruple Amputee After Getting Meningitis And Now His Friends Are Trying To Raise The $1 Million Dollars Needed To Help Him
Stratford, New Jersey. Jon Aquino is an award-winning nurse, dad, and husband who worked for the Jefferson Stratford Hospital in New Jersey before he became very sick.
Jon tirelessly worked through the pandemic, and his coworkers have called him a truly “incredible nurse.”
He has won an award for the March of Dimes Nurse of the Year as well as another award for providing outstanding care to all of his patients.
It was over this summer on August 25th that Jon and his family were on vacation at the Jersey Shore when he developed an extremely bad fever.
Jon had to be airlifted over to the Cooper Hospital in Camden, where doctors diagnosed him with streptococcal meningitis that had turned into septic shock.
“He had a brain bleed, was in liver and kidney failure, and had to be intubated and sedated,” Maria Giangiulio, a friend of Jon’s, wrote on a GoFundMe page.
“On September 2, Jon regained consciousness, but his journey was not over. As a result of the sepsis, BOTH of his hands AND feet had turned black and needed to be amputated.”
“On September 18th, Jon underwent surgery to have his hands amputated. Just four days later, he was back in surgery to have his feet amputated.”
GoFundMe; pictured above is Jon with his children
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“Presently, Jon’s acute kidney failure persists, though doctors are confident they will heal in time. As a quadruple amputee, Jon now faces innumerable hurdles.”
Maria and other friends of Jon and his family are now trying to come together to raise the $1 million dollars that Jon will need to help him with the medical bills and hurdles he is facing.
Maria mentioned that there is a list of things that Jon will now require, including making changes to his home to accommodate his new disability, and getting him and his family counseling to help them adjust to everything that has happened to him.
One of the things that Maria is really hoping they will be able to do with the money is pay for a groundbreaking hand replacement surgery for Jon.
GoFundMe; pictured above is Jon in the hospital
“Jon has the opportunity to have a life transformative hand replacement surgery by Dr. Levin of the University of Pennsylvania, one of the few doctors in the world that performs this cutting edge procedure,” Maria explained.
“Unfortunately, insurance companies do not cover this procedure so all costs would be out-of-pocket. Please watch this video to learn more about this amazing opportunity: https://youtu.be/YhquPBYcTVQ.”
Maria also pointed out that Jon’s medical bills are only growing, and it’s not positive what his insurance company will cover right now.
“Jon will of course need rehab, prosthetic legs, and many other medical services in the years ahead,” Maria continued.
“There is so much uncertainty at the moment about what will be covered by insurance, and if Jon will continue to be covered by insurance if he has to stop working.”
If you would like to donate to the GoFundMe page Maria created to help Jon, you can do that here.
More About:Human Interest
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