Local Man Battles Life-Threatening Infection, Says Son in Letter to Editor

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Dear Kym,

I want to begin by saying thank you from the bottom of my heart for posting the article about my father, Tony Piazza, and his GoFundMe on RedHeaded Blackbelt (https://kymkemp.com/2023/02/17/mans-sudden-medical-diagnosis-derails-lifelong-dream/). By doing so, we were able to raise half of our family’s goal to keep my father alive and get him back to the United States.

Unfortunately, as my father continued to get treatment to get stable enough to travel, more complications have arisen that have set us back significantly. In recent weeks he developed an extremely complicated UTI and a severe bacterial blood infection.  Along with dialysis 3 times a week, he’s receiving twice daily infusions of antibiotics at the hospital.

Our goal is to get him past this infection so he can travel to San Antonio where they are working with a kidney foundation, Kidney Solutions (https://kidneysolutions.org/). They say he qualifies for an immediate transplant with a live donor. We’ll tackle that issue when we get him better, but at the moment his infection right now is life threatening.

When he’s a bit better and can travel to the US his Medicare will take over and costs can be paid. In the meantime, we have gone through everything we have, plus our donations that so many have lovingly donated to our GoFundMe. We are at the stage where we have to pick and choose what medical care we can afford. I am not sure if my father can outlast this without the care that he desperately needs.

My family and I are asking if you would be so gracious as to make another post on your website for my father so we can crowdfund the rest of our goal. This is a matter of life and death, as my father is not stable enough to travel back to the United States and we do not possess the funds to continue his added treatments. To add to the stress of the situation, his tourist Visa expires in 15 days. My parents are having difficulty reaching the US Embassy for help. I understand that this is asking a lot and we will not ask you to make another post after this one. Thank you so much for taking your time to read this and we deeply appreciate your consideration.

Respectfully,

Basil Piazza (Tony’s oldest son)