Health Crisis Reunites Family

Benita Prado Bocanegra was at her Los Angeles home Tuesday night when an image from her fuzzy television caught her attention. She, like other Angelenos, was amazed by the story of the reclusive couple who underwent separate but simultaneous medical ordeals.

She listened to the story of the wheelchair-dependent woman who was trapped between her bed and a wall, while her husband, the only person who would know if she was in trouble, lay unconscious in a hospital. Bocanegra, 77, heard the man’s last name, Prado, but did not realize it was her brother, Agustin, whom she had not seen in more than 20 years. Luckily, other family members did and on Wednesday Prado Bocanegra visited her long-lost brother in the hospital.

“I couldn’t sleep last night thinking about finally seeing him,� Prado Bocanegra said. “I told him to please let us into his life. I told him he’s not alone. There are so many people who care for him.�

Her brother, Agustin Prado, 58, had driven himself to the hospital on Feb. 16. He was vomiting profusely and in extreme pain. Emergency room doctors rushed him into surgery to repair a ruptured esophagus; a rare, life-threatening condition. His wife of 39 years, Amparo, 64, took a taxi home. Before she left for their Highland Park home, Agustin promised to return home by last Wednesday to drive her to her next dialysis treatment.

Sometime after Amparo returned to their Highland Park home, she fell. No one knew she was alone except Agustin, who was hooked up to a ventilator, heavily sedated and unconscious as Amparo screamed for help in vain. When he finally was able to speak nine days later, he alerted doctors. Police found Amparo, weak but alive.

Prado Bocanegra said Agustin was always the most reclusive of the five brothers and sisters. He moved to Highland Park and never made an effort to see the family, Prado Bocanegra said. There was no ill will between Agustin and the family; they just slowly grew apart and stopped seeing one another, she said.

“There’s so much he’s missed all these years,� Prado said. “There is so much I want to sit down and talk to him about.�

Doctors at Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center said the husband and wife are expected to recover but will remain in the hospital for more monitoring and testing. “We expect them to be all right, but these are two very sick people. It’s going to be a long recovery process.�

Agustin became ill when the contents of his esophagus spread to his lungs and to the areas around his heart, said Thomas Godfrey, medical director at the medical center. Because Agustin cannot take deep breaths and has had difficulty breathing, he is wearing an oxygen mask.

“A lot of people who have what he has don’t make it,� Godfrey said.

Meanwhile, Amparo’s condition was improving. She had missed several dialysis appointments and doctors had administered treatment on Tuesday, Godfrey said.

Doctors said it is a mystery how Amparo survived without food and water for so long, but through different medical tests have determined that she may not have been wedged between the wall and her bed for as long as previously thought.

They said they have not determined how many days the woman actually went without basic necessities.

“All we know is she seems to have reached for some hairpins and that’s the last thing she remembers,� Godfrey said.

Agustin’s sister said she can care for her younger brother after he is released from the hospital.

“I told them that I’d cook for them and help them however possible, even if I have to drag my sick little feet,� said Prado Bocanegra, who suffers from osteoporosis and arthritis. “I hope he accepts my offer. It’s so sad to be so distant from family.�

Amparo was moved from Kaiser’s West Los Angeles Medical Center late Wednesday to the Los Angeles Medical Center on Sunset Boulevard, where she and her husband will again sleep side by side.

The only bed available for her at the hospital was the one next to her husband, doctors said. “Ironically, the hospital is very full, but the only open bed is the one in his room,� Godfrey said. “We had nothing to do with that. This is fate.�