Help Joel Live

We would like to knock on your kind hearts to help us in our medical expenses for my husband, Joel Suan.

Our entire family got COVID last August and Joel got the brunt of it all. He got critical with oxygen levels dropping to 53. He had to be intubated and he has been hospitalized since August 13. He self-extubated due to lack of sedative dosing and suffered cardiac arrest last Sept. 1, 2021. He is in coma right now due to lack of oxygen from his cardiac arrest. He has recovered from COVID but also developed stage 4 bedsores in his sacral area that is up to his spine. His bones/spine and tissues are visible through the bedsores, that is how deep and big the wound is. Right now, the doctors are trying vacuum assisted closure with a dressing that has to be changed every 2-3 days. The dressing costs around $500 every 2-3 days. That is on top of our hospital bills, antibiotics, other meds, supplies, and doctors' fees. Right now, our medical bills are nearing 1M pesos in the current hospital ($19,000) and it is still climbing. The 1M pesos does not yet include professional fees for the doctors.

After his cardiac arrest, the doctors told us to accept the situation and that he will remain comatose. His initial Glassgow Coma Scale (GCS) was 3. I was able to see him last Oct. 20, 2021, two months after we rushed him to the hospital. By October 20, by then he is able to open and close his eyes, has sleep/wake cycles. By the second week that we were together in the hospital, I noticed he reacts to pain, to tickling, and to verbal communication. Three weeks after October 20, with physical therapy, he is able to jerk his legs and arms when a position is uncomfortable. Right now, his GCS is around 9 to 10.

We were also told by doctors here that he will be bed-bound for life but we see that he is improving day by day neurologically. He has few lucid moments when he recognizes me, smiles at me, focuses his eyes at me and moves his eyebrows up when he agrees to what I am saying. He also can now move his head from side to side and can occasionally move his left arm. He also has short moments when he interacts with me when I show him our family album.

The doctors here are also actively treating his bedsores which is a potential source of infection. Joel has been given the strongest antibiotics and we hope and pray he responds well.

The neuro doctors here are giving him citicoline 1grm twice a day and nootropil/piracatem twice a day too but they remain pessimistic as to the improvement of my husband. We, the family, however are exhausting all means to give him the best chance at life. We are not giving up! We will fight for you, Dad!

As you all know, my husband is a good man, a family man. He has always been selfless and self-sacrificing. When we had a COVID19 surge last August 2021, even when he was not feeling so well, he said that he will only go the hospital if he cannot take it anymore because many others are more in need of oxygen support and critical beds. That is how selfless he is. Maybe that is why against all odds, God is still blessing him with each day and little improvements day by day. I once mentioned to him that he is my personal blessing. Even right now, him being in coma, I still consider him my personal blessing. I am proud of him, of his resilience, but my heart also bleeds to see the effects of medicines, of his cardiac arrest, and most especially to see his bedsores. The nurses and doctors here can only shake their heads in disbelief at the severity of the bedsore. I can only imagine Joel's pain. My mother mentioned that maybe Joel is sharing in the sufferings of Christ. Maybe my mother is right. But I also believe that God is forgiving, merciful, and loving. He will heal Joel, because he is our personal God, our loving, forgiving, and merciful God. Nothing can separate us from His love. We still believe in the miracles that God can give with the intercession of Mary.

As a wife, I am also doing my best to give my husband a fighting chance. He fights day by day but we are only ordinary employees and our means of supporting his medical care is slowly dwindling. Our families and friends are also doing what they can to help us.

I am hoping and praying that you will be moved with compassion and will also be willing to help us financially and most of all please include Joel and our family in your prayers. It is a long journey and we hope and pray that this journey will lead us to Joel's healing and towards better days.

Thank you and God bless you.