Sri Valarino

Sri Valarino, 59, is a devoted father, husband and friend. A graduate of UC Irvine, Sri has been a long-time supporter of his local community. Many people have benefited from his unflagging participation with youth teams and athletic and cultural programs. Sri has always enjoyed sports, dancing and the company of his family and good friends.

While skiing in Lake Tahoe on March 13, 2009, Sri had a terrible fall and broke his neck at C5 and cracked his C1 vertebrae. He was airlifted to Renown Hospital in Reno, NV and was fortunate to have surgery to repair his neck that night. Four days later, he had a rare postsurgery cerebellar stroke. These injuries left him with tetraplegia below the chest, along with inability to speak and swallow. He stayed at Renown in intensive care for 30 days, then was transferred to Craig Hospital in Denver, CO for almost 4 months of rigorous rehabilitation. When insurance funds were exhausted Sri was discharged from Craig in August to return home to California.

The Valarino family then put in place the right care network to help Sri work towards the fullest possible recovery which included Project Walk specialized physical therapy for spinal cord injuries in Carlsbad, CA (www.projectwalk.org), He also had Aquatic Therapy, Hand Therapy and Speech/Executive Therapies and Hippotherapy. (http://www.sheacenter.org/therapeutic-riding.php) During this extremely challenging time, Sri showed the gracious spirit and remarkable optimism that have characterized him all his life. He participated wholeheartedly in the intense therapy schedule that was tailored for him even though it was exhausting and frustrating. His speech and physical capacities greatly improved, but he had a long way to go.

Here are some harsh realities regarding Sri’s injuries: Craig Hospital estimates that the unreimbursed portion of Sri’s medical care will be in the vicinity of $200,000 the first year and $70,000+ subsequent years. This does not include expenses related to specialized home care, transportation, loss of wages and all the other non-medical issues he and his family face.
https://www.nscisc.uab.edu/Public/Facts%202015%20Aug.pdf

To assist with meeting these enormous costs, we have been fortunate to work with the Help Hope Live Catastrophic Injury Program. Help Hope Live is a nonprofit organization that assists people who need organ/tissue transplants or have experienced catastrophic injuries.

Please support Sri by sending a charitable donation to Help Hope Live. All contributions are administered by HelpHopeLive exclusively for injury-related expenses. To contribute:

Make checks payable to:
HelpHopeLive

Note in memo section:
In Honor of Sri Valarino

Send to:
Help Hope Live
Two Radnor Corporate Center
100 Matsonford Road, Suite 100
Radnor, PA 19087

By credit card: call Help Hope Live at 800-642-8399 or click on the ‘Donate Now’ link.

In addition to financial support, you can volunteer your time, energy and skills for fundraising, home care, meal preparation and other essentials. Please call or email us with any offers or questions you may have.

Thank you for your support of Sri!

Sally Valarino Adam Zagorski Didi Yeh
949-275-3104 949.292.9816 949.636.5018