Fil-Am Revived from Death in Spain Needs Money to Come Home
Don Tagala, ABS-CBN North America News Bureau
Posted at 09/05/2015 5:04 PM | Updated as of 09/05/2015 5:05 PM
NEW YORK CITY – A Filipino-American from New York went into a sudden cardiac arrest while on vacation in Spain.
AJ Roxas, 23, was on vacation in Madrid en route to Barcelona when he went into a sudden cardiac death. He was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Sudden cardiac death is the largest cause of natural death in the US, accounting for about 325,000 adult deaths in the US each year.
Luckily, Roxas was revived.
“He was feeling a little bit nauseous, next thing you know nandyan na yung ambulance. He went to the ER right way. It took the doctors 40 minutes to revive him,” said his sister Veronica Cabe.
After two weeks in the intensive care, Roxas is stable but he remains in a vegetative state.
Cabe said all his movements are involuntary.
“He’s awake, pero hindi niya tayo nakikilala. I’m not sure kung nakakarinig siya pero there are times he’s showing na parang naririnig niya ako,” she said.
Cabe said, Roxas, a drummer for a band, lived a very active lifestyle.
When they heard about Roxas’ ordeal in Spain, friends and bandmates came together to help bring him back to the US.
Cabe said they need at least $15,000 to airlift Roxas from Spain to the US and that does not include all the other medical expenses at the hospital.
Meantime at the hospital, Filipino members of Singles for Christ, took turns taking care of Roxas during moments his family could not be there.
“Doon namin nakita yung, wow, magsasama-sama pala talaga ang mga Pilipino para lang makatulong. I’m just blessed. AJ’s been blessed so much,” said Cabe.
Without health insurance and the money to pay for all of Roxas’ bills, his family created a Gofundme page.
As of the latest, the Gofundme page has raised a total of $11,000 out of the $60,000 target.
If they get enough funds, the family is hoping to get Roxas back to the US by next week.