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Gas attendant Leon Bardalez is in the hospital tonight which is where he celebrated his 26th birthday and where he’s been since July 19th. That is when Bardalez was found seriously hurt at mile 4 on the Northern Highway. The problem is that no one knows what happened because he’s been unconscious. But an even bigger problem is his mounting medical bill at the hospital. It is at $104,000 and counting. That is why his family is holding a barbecue sale tomorrow to raise funds. Keith Swift found out more.

Keith Swift Reporting,
His family members are holding his hands and Leon Bardalez has been holding on to his life since the July 19th incident.

Olga Arnold, Mother of Leon Bardalez
“He is not talking, he said he only can hear.”

Dr. Joel Cervantes, Neurosurgeon
“He was in our ICU for two and a half weeks. He is no longer critical. He is a in serious condition. He is not out of the woods as yet. We’ve been able to get him out of the ICU. He is more stable however he is facing quite a long recovery period.”

Keith Swift,
“Is he conscious right now?”

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“For some periods of time. We’ve been able to identify that during some short periods of time Leon can obey simple commands. He would do this at times with some of the nurses, with his physical therapist, and sometimes with his close family members.”

Keith Swift,
“So he is slipping in and out of consciousness?”

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“Yes although with each passing day we know that he is more awake during the day for longer periods of times and he is now getting back into the cycle of sleeping at night and being awake at day.”

It is both an emotional drain on the family and a mystery. No one knows what happened to Leon – since he’s been unable to talk.

Olga Arnold,
“We conscious he didn’t come home and we called his phone and I didn’t no answer and I called my daughter and my daughter called two times before a doctor answered and the doctor said for us to come to Karl Heusner and we got there and we found him with the head injury. The whole this side of his head was teared off.”

Keith Swift,
“What was his condition when he arrived?”

Dr. Joel Cervantes,
“When Leon arrived there were several things. Basically on the left side of the skull, the head as such, the skin was opened due to the accident. The bone from the skull was crushed into the brain tissue and he had a blood clot on the left side. That blood clot was drained, the tissue was cleaned up, the bone was rearranged as such.

Definitely here what I can say with my experience dealing with these cases is definitely if he was not speeding, then the same, his body mass, his body volume, his weight and everything and whatever impact he had against the ground, he was thrown – he was projected and when he landed, definitely the part of the body that took the brunt of the impact is the head.”

It has also been a tremendous financial burden since his hospital bill at the Healthcare Partners Hospital has exceeded one hundred thousand dollars.

Keith Swift,
“How frustrating is this for the family not knowing what happened?”

Olga Arnold,
“It is very frustrating because I don’t know how anybody could do that. If you hit a bicycle, you should stop and try render assistance and see what happened. They just gone just like that and my son was a careful driver. He is warning and telling us what to do in the case of an accident. So this is really something wrong.”

Ruth Usher, Sister of Leon
“We are having a barbecue sale at across from Caye Caulker Water Taxi, where the Paslow Building was and we are trying to raise funds to help to pay the hospital bill that is over $104,000. The following week we are having a turkey dinner sale and it will be at the same location and we’re going to have free dessert along with the turkey dinner.”

Dr. Cervantez hopes to have Leon Bardalez out of the hospital within ten days. Tomorrow’s barbecue sale starts at 9 am and it will be held at ground zero – the site of the old post office. You can also assist Bardalez to pay his $100,000 bill by donating money to the family. Funds can be deposited into account number 265-729 at the Belize Bank.