Nick Nigro

Nick Needs Our Help!

Nick had a sudden cardiac arrest at the age of 23 on halloween 2015 due to contracting the West Nile Virus.

That day Nick was preparing to head to work when he told me he was very tired and wasn’t feeling well.

A short time later, Nick experienced cardiac arrest. His Dad and I immediately started CPR and called for help. By the time Nick got to the hospital he already suffered an Anoxic Brain injury from the lack of oxygen in his blood.

We were told that Nick would remain in a persistent vegetative state, but thankfully that did not happen. Nick is a warrior — a fighter and one determined young man. He is now in a conscious state re-learning how to do everything. While we are still in the early stages, Nick is re-learning how to eat food and how to communicate with a computer program that reads his eye movements. He currently does not have full use of his arms or legs and is wheelchair-bound and requires round-the-clock caretaking. Three times a week he has physical, occupational and speech therapies, in addition to the massage therapy he receives twice a week.

The medical bills for that one day in November 2015 were $349,000 and the bills never stop. For someone with this type of brain injury, the road is very very long and the insurance companies begin to pay less and less as time moves forward. Nick will have many uninsured illness-related expenses for the rest of his life.

To help with the financial burden of Nick’s uninsured expenses, a fundraising campaign in his honor has been established with Help Hope Live, a trusted nonprofit organization that has been providing community-based fundraising guidance to patients and their families for more than 30 years. All donations are tax-deductible to the full extent allowed by law, are held by Help Hope Live in the North-Central Catastrophic Illness Fund, and are administered by Help Hope Live for illness-related expenses only. Please consider making a contribution today and click the GIVE button.

Keep an eye on Nick’s campaign page at www.helphopelive.org because we will be planning some fundraising events soon and posting updates regularly. If you would like to volunteer your time or talent, please call or email me at the number or email below.

Thank you for helping and giving Nick a chance for a better life,

Lisa Nigro (mom)
[email protected] 773.425.8391