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Man Alive and Well After
A true miracle has happened for my friend Gaspar Barone, 63 year old single male. We have been good friends since 1988. He has been a diabetic since he was two years old; Type l diabetes has been with him for 61 years. The past two years he has been under constant care of peripheral arterial disease in his feet and legs; and the right leg was saved through maggot therapy and prayers; but the left leg had to be amputated below the knee June 25, 2009. I had moved to Gaspar's home residence to care for him since the left leg amputation surgery. He lives in Brookpark, Ohio and I live about 20 miles away in Parma, Ohio. Neither of us were married and we do not have any children. Since his leg amputation surgery his sugar has been very difficult to control and even though Gaspar tested his sugar level often, a low sugar episode would sneak up unexpectedly and cause him to be in a diabetic reaction where someone had to immediately give him sugar or call 911, which often had to be called if he could not swallow. The morning of August 9th, 2009 was one of those dreaded times where I woke up to a moan, turned on the lights and noticed Gaspar unresponsive. I began giving him some fruit juice but he was having trouble swallowing. I opened a tube of sugar (glucose) gel and gave it to him and he could not swallow that; and I noticed he had trouble breathing and called 9ll -- he shortly there after stopped breathing; he took three last deep breaths, his eyes rolled upward and then closed and he took no more breaths. I knew he had passed away and kept calling his name in disbelief and heard the ambulance pull up and I ran to the front door as paramedic came up the steps; I told him, “Gaspar just passed away, now come quickly”; the paramedic ran in the room and took his pulse and there was no pulse; he called the rest of his team and wrapped him in the bed sheets and carried him onto the living room floor and began working on him calling out "v tech" and other medical terms -- I was listening for a good response and heard nothing for quite a while -- I would say about l0 minutes had passed before I heard them say, “Now -- we got him back”, and immediately put him on a stretcher and rushed him to the Emergency Room and I followed behind. Gaspar was not awake in ambulance or in Triage area of the hospital, and I was thinking maybe he died again as they did not let me see him for a long while. Finally, they let me in to see him; he was thrashing about waving his arms and legs. He had full oxygen mask on. He was trying to speak to me and lift his head and no words were forming. He tried over and over to speak. I asked the medic if he would improve; they said that since he was dead for quite some time that maybe he would never talk or walk again. I went home and contacted Ellen and all my friends and relatives about Gaspar's condition; and I know everyone was praying for him. (Ellen specifically told me of her and Jessie's prayers to Bishop Alphonse Gallegos for Gaspar.) Gaspar was in a coma for two days, but the morning he awoke he called my name (Charlene), from then on he improved slowly day by day. A catharization of the heart was taken and the doctor said he had three blocked arteries to the heart -- he suggested three stents be put in the next day, which Gaspar had done. Two stents were placed in one artery to hold it open and one stent in each of the other arteries. He has a total of four stents. He is now home from the hospital after being there from August 9th to August 14th. I believe it to be a true miracle that he is talking and walking (hopping on his one leg with walker) as he did before all this took place. I have developed a deep devotion to Bishop Alphonse Gallegos and I pray to him daily. He is very special to me as he has interceded in the miraculous recovery of my good friend Gaspar who had passed away and now lives. |
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