Santa Cruz man helps out father figure

John Futch fell, hit his head and suffered stroke

SANTA CRUZ >> A Santa Cruz resident, Michael Delorio, is leading the charge to get a former news editor and Vietnam War veteran medical treatment oversees after he fell, hit his head and suffered a subsequent stroke.

John Futch, who is now a resident of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was the managing editor of the Long Beach Press-Telegram before he left the country to enjoy his retirement. Futch also served as a father figure for Delorio while he grew up. He was Delorio’s mother’s boyfriend during Delorio’s youth.

While Futch and Delorio’s mother were never married, Futch was around for most of Delorio’s life. He was also never formerly adopted by Futch, but still sees him as a father figure.

“For all intents and purposes, I consider him a father. He effectively raised me.” Delorio said. “He was present for all of my memorable life, and he lived with me since the second grade.”

Futch has no next of kin, according to Delorio. He has a brother, who is also undergoing hospital care, and a few cousins that he isn’t in contact with. Therefore, Delorio felt it was his duty to care for Futch, a man that had supported him his whole life.

Hospital bills for Futch’s care continue to stack up and payment timelines in Cambodia are much shorter than in the U.S. Some hospitals in the Southeast Asian country expect payment within 24 hours, or they will stop administering care. Delorio, and other activists for Futch’s recovery have been able to move him to another hospital that has a 30-day billing period.

However, the quick turnaround for large sums of money is no easy feat, especially for a young professional. On top of that, Cambodian hospitals have a strange policy for American patients. The hospitals tend to inflate the cost of care for American citizens and charge more for their services, according to Delorio.

“We’ve heard the same thing,” said Keith Higginbotham, the communications director for Rep. Alan Lowenthal, who is working to get Futch the care he needs. “Unfortunately, Michael is in a situation where he is not there on the ground to argue with them on the price.”

That is why Delorio started to a GoFundMe to raise money for Futch’s hospital bills. His current goal is to raise $100,000, but he suspects he will have to raise much more. The original goal would be the start of his treatment, which will depend how long and how intense his care needs to be, Delorio said.

He also believes he will need to medivac Futch back to the U.S. due to a lack of stroke treatment centers in Cambodia. Delorio researched medivacs and found out the cost upward of $200,000.

“There is no way to get an insurance coverage out of that. All the costs are considered reimbursed fees,” Delorio said. “For that $200,000, we might have to come up with it in cash. That’s terrifying.”

For now, Delorio is focused on getting Futch into a stable condition. Flying him back to the U.S. is already risky with a head injury and would be more dangerous if he isn’t stable. However, that means continuing to pay daily hospital bills for the time being, but even that isn’t easy.

One of the biggest complications for Delorio is communication. He has been in contact with Futch’s Cambodian girlfriend ever since the accident, but there is a language barrier between the two.

He also has not been able to contact Futch directly as he has been in and out of consciousness since his accident. Delorio has received pictures and videos of Futch, as well as spotty news of his treatment and recovery. Therefore, Delorio doesn’t have the full picture of what is happening.

That is one thing Lowenthal’s and Rep. Jackie Spier’s offices are trying to fix.

“We would like for the embassy to send someone to the hospital who is fluent in Cambodian and English to provide Michael with updates and full transparency of what is happening there,” said Tracy Manzer, communications director for Spier.

The embassy hasn’t been much help since the news of Futch’s accident, Delorio said. The embassy has only gone to the hospital twice to check on Futch’s status and report back to Delorio, he said. The embassy is also unable to help with the money transfer process. Therefore, Delorio has had to go through a long money transferring process to get the money to Futch’s girlfriend.

He is worried that may cause fraud alerts on his account. He is relying on the goodwill of someone that he doesn’t know. She isn’t a new figure, but Delorio has never met her personally. Lowenthal’s and Spier’s offices are also working to make sure that money is going to the right place.

“It’s one of the reasons that we wanted somebody like the embassy or American Citizen Services to be hovering around,” Higginbotham said. “To make sure whatever money John is sending is used to make John better.”

Delorio has already raised $23,815 for Futch’s medical care, as of Tuesday. He said he is very grateful for the support he has received from the community. Former coworkers and army buddies, as well as various community members, have rallied together to raise the money needed.

“People have been coming out of the woodwork all across the country,” Manzer said.

However, there is still a long way to go, and the fundraising effort continues. Anyone that is interested in donating to Delorio’s effort to pay for Futch’s medical bills can do so at gofundme.com. From there they can search for “John Futch’s Medical Expense Fund.”

“John and Michael are probably going to have to raise quite a bit of money to get John home. The more people that know about it, the better,” Higginbotham said. “The number of people (John) has helped along his way is so phenomenal. Now