This site is specially dedicated to our wonderful friend Alex Gonzaga, who had a terrible accident on Thursday,
April 17th, 2008 and is now recovering at the Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, FL.
To tell you a little bit about Alex Gonzaga, he is the most caring, sincere, honest, and loveable person
that one could meet or ask for as a friend. He would do anything for anybody without expecting anything in return and I (Kermit)
am prime example of that. About 3 weeks ago I had my close encounter with death during a car accident and Alex, without me
asking, stepped up and extended his hand to help me get through the aftermath and NOT ONCE he asked for anything in return.
Instead, he said and I quote "I help people without expecting anything in return. Now, I hope that when I need it, the same
is provided to me"
But enough about me since this is about Alex :-)
On Thursday, April 17, 2008, while at Cocoa Beach with his friends Kermit, Rudy, Lester & Bradley, the
most unfortunate and most unbelievable event occured around 3:45 PM, when all of us decided to run into the water. We all
ran in except for Bradley who stayed behind. As I came up from being under water I heard Bradley yell Kermit Kermit! I looked
to my side and I noticed that Alex was floating face down. At that moment I thought well, he's doing his thing,
waiting for a wave or something but when we noticed that there was no response, Bradley ran to him, flipped him
over and that's when we knew something was wrong and that's when we both began to pull him out of the water.
As we were pulling him out of the water we noticed that he was completely unresponsive, not breathing,
etc. Thank god that earlier that day we had met a couple of girls (Scarlett & Jamie) who had just finished their
finals to become nurses and were able to assist Bradley with CPR. I must say that Rudy & Lester also helped
greatly during this situation. Within minutes, after calling 911, the paramedics showed up to take care of the rest.
He was then air lifted to Holmes Regional Medical Center in Melbourne, FL, where he is still admitted.
Unfortunately, we have learned that he broke his neck (C4 to be exact) while jumping in the water and will
now face a lot of challenges while recovering. There is a possibility that he may or may not be able to walk again and
do other things that he used to do. A surgery to repair the fracture is tentatively scheduled for this upcoming Wednesday,
April 23rd, 2008. Even though the personnel at the hospital is not providing us with a real positive outlook, we are
very optimistic and we all know that Alex is a fighter and has an immense amount of LOVE not only from his family, but
also his friends, who are his family away from home! We know that he will recover 100% and will have that fun,
loveable, sweet Brazilian that we know fully recovered and ready to go!
The current reality however is that during this process a lot of bills will be accumulated and will
of course have to be taken care of sooner or later. To start with, his closest family does not live in FL.
(mother lives in Colorado and sister lives in Brazil). In order for us to keep his family close to him we will have A
LOT of expenses that we alone cannot afford. Secondly, as we all know, health care is extremely expensive, especially when
it involves an emergency of such magnitude, which includes a helicopter ride, ER treatment, ICU care, surgery, etc.
Therefore, through this mean we are pledging for your support! Whether it is a small or large contribution
it does make a difference in Alex's recovery process, which we know will be a long but positive one! We need to show
that all of us, whether you know Alex or not, can unite and give support when the going gets tough and extend a
helping hand just like he does without asking for anything in return!
Any contribution can be made via PayPal, which is a secure, easy way to contribute! It is used for eBay!
transactions so no worries. Once we decide to close to donation link, PayPal will then mail a check to us, which will then
be passed to his family. Please click on the link below (WHERE IT SAYS DONATE) for further instructions.
On a side note, this website will be posted on myspace, facebook, craigslist, etc. and we hope that you
will repost so that we can reach as many people as we can and get everything covered for Alex and his family!
Thank you in advance!
Sincerely,
All of us that love him so much...
For more information:
Kermit Ortiz
321-695-4054
Rudy Chacin
407-963-0869
