We at Shepherd’s Staff Ministries understand that the medical expenses are going to be more then the Pinedos can handle, anticipated to be somewhere from $500,000 to over $1 million. Ricardo and his family do not have medical insurance of any kind, are ineligible to receive federal aid, and are currently without any income due to this emergency. This is why we have a benevolence fund. We want to help people like the Pinedos. ALL donations to the SSM benevolence fund are 100% tax-deductible.
If you would like to donate to help in cases like this make checks payable to Shepherd’s Staff Ministries, and write in the memo “Benevolence Fund.” Any money designated directly to a specific person will not be tax deductible per IRS regulations. You can donate via PayPal right here on our website, but they will take a fee. If you would instead send a check to our office so 100% of the money can be used to help those in need that would be best. All donations to our benevolence fund go directly to pay for any bills or personal needs that may arise.
Now for the Miracle that only God can provide!
On Tuesday, June 30, 2020, Ricardo suffered a heart attack while on a walk. A jogger found him without a pulse and called 911. Paramedics worked hard and successfully resuscitated and de-fibrillated him twice, and took him to the ER. After putting him on a ventilator to keep him breathing, a heart monitor system, a number of intravenous medicines, the emergency staff ran a CT scan, COVID test, and several other tests to check for other injuries or damage. Then Ricardo underwent intensive hypothermic treatment in the Neuro Critical Care Unit to try to prevent or stop brain and organ damage, with a round-the-clock EEG to monitor brain activity.
Due to prayers around the world, his recovery journey is miraculously progressing so far, and he was able to coherently interact on the fourth day. He appears to be neurologically intact (speak, see, hear, smell, taste, touch, remember his wife and kids as well as his mom and brother, understand Spanish and English, make jokes, play the guitar and piano, sit, stand, walk, shave himself, etc.) and amazed all the nurses, physical therapists, PAs and doctors, with his “unheard of,” “quick” and “phenomenal” comeback. After completing all required tests and therapies, as well as undergoing a heart catheterization and surgical implantation of an automatic cardiovascular defibrillator, he was released to go home for recovery to his wife Karen and their two toddlers after nine days.
He is on strict recovery protocol with follow up blood work, visits with cardiologists and the neurologist, outpatient physical and occupational therapy, and a prescription treatment plan. He awaits the biggest and most important surgery of all, a septal myectomy to shave off part of the wall of the septum inside his heart because it has grown too thick to allow his heart to pump at a life-sustaining capacity. This open-heart surgery is supposed to happen in 4-6 weeks, and is necessary for him not to suffer from another heart attack like this one. The family requests your prayers for either a successful surgery or a full healing from Jesus prior to surgery.
The following gives you a timeline for the events:
June 30. Ricardo collapses (from a heart attack?) on a walking trail. A jogger finds him with no pulse, calls 911. Paramedics revive him with 12 EPI and rounds of CPR, and 2x defibrillation, then take him to the Wesley ER. There the staff run CT scans, x-rays, and many other tests. It is determined that he needs an intensive 24-hour hypothermia treatment to try to prevent brain damage or stop already existing brain damage. The hypothermia treatment is begun. Ricardo is on round the clock EEG to monitor brain activity, and a host of other IVs through a PICC line. He also is on a ventilator to keep him breathing.
July 1. Hypothermia treatment finishes late in the afternoon, and Ricardo is slowly re-warmed.
July 2. Ricardo finally returns to normal body temperature, and is “awakened” by neurological team. He opens his eyes when aggressively prodded while his name is yelled, and “looks” around but completely unfocused like a zombie and does not really connect or respond to commands. A feeding tube is inserted to try to get some nutrition into his body. He is extremely swollen and returns to unconsciousness and mild sedation.
July 3. Ricardo is awakened again by the neurological team, and this time he consistently responds to commands. He moves his finger, gives thumbs up, wiggles a toe, tracks with his eyes. He is unconscious a lot, but when he returns to consciousness and wakes each time, he is extremely agitated with all the tubes in his body and mouth and nose. He is successfully removed from the breathing tube in the afternoon, and begins to breathe on his own. He also keeps asking for water, both in Spanish and English, because of course his throat is extremely sore from the tube. He is not allowed liquids at this time to prevent them going into his lungs in developing pneumonia. In order to keep him from pulling other tubes out, they have to continue heavy sedation.
July 4. Ricardo’s independence day. Today was a breakthrough neurologically, as the head neurologist — after a long series of physical proofs and questions — decides to cancel the MRI for now, saying that at this point Ricardo appears “neurologically intact.” It was also a breakthrough mentally, as Ricardo becomes more aware as a sedation wears off, and he begins asking a lot of questions about how this happened, why is he there, where is he, where are his daughters, etc. His musical ability seems to still be there, as he began to “sing” very hoarsely, and recite Scriptures, and pray throughout the afternoon. He weeps a lot, and breaks down into tears thanking God for giving Jesus, and saying over and over “I will preach Jesus.” He also has been ordered physical therapy by the doctor, and the therapists actually had him put on his socks, while he kept repeating “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” The therapists helped him and supported him while he walked for one minute. What a total miracle! All the people in the NCCU say this is unheard of. On his own, he recorded a Facebook live video from his bed, in English in Spanish, sharing the gospel, but when the nurse came in to take his temperature he stopped it and forgot to “save” it, so it was lost when it expired after an hour.
July 5. Ricardo is getting stronger, but tires very quickly. He had some amazing experiences during prayer time with Karen, and other visitors. He keeps repeating that God wants him to “preach the gospel” with everyone. He doesn’t wait to get up from the hospital bed, but starts already witnessing to his nurses and the staff, and to his saved and unsaved friends via another Facebook Live video (which he successfully saved this time so it stays online). He says God made him come back to “preach Jesus boldly.”
July 6. Heart catheterization day. Also cardiology scope test day where they run a scope with a camera down Ricardo‘s mouth and into his chest cavity to make a 3-D picture of his heart, measure the pressure of the blood flow through his heart, check for any obstructions that might not have been previously seen, and measure the thickness of the wall of the septum in his heart. After the scope exam, they will determine whether he will undergo open heart surgery to trim or slice off part of the septum wall to make it thinner and therefore allow the heart to pump closer to full capacity. This surgery would save him from further episodes like this happening.
July 7. Implantation of the ICD “implantable cardiovascular device” which will monitor his heartbeat 24/7 and automatically shock and defibrillate him if he ever goes into a-fib again, plus send an alert to his doctor. More cognitive and speech therapy this morning, and after 6 PM when the Versed medication from surgery is out of Ricardo’s system, the physical therapist has him walking the hallway, climbing stairs, kicking a flat basketball as if it were a soccer ball, and stepping over cones to practice balance. All the NCCU nurses are shocked to watch Ricardo’s exceptional performance!
July 8. In a surprise to all his friends and family, Ricardo is discharged from the hospital this afternoon — not into a rehab center, but HOME! — since he completed all the mandatory physical, speech and cognitive, and occupational therapies, plus passed all the NIH scale tests for neurological function. He could have stayed another 10 days in the hospital and opted to have the septal myectomy tomorrow and recover in the cardiology ward, but he and the doctors all talked together and agreed it is better for him to get stronger first before undergoing such an invasive open heart surgery, so they sent him home for recovery and will schedule the surgery for 4-6 weeks later.
We thank God for every miracle He has given along the way and trust Him to continue the story He has started. Please continue to pray with us!
