Co-workers save Christmas

DAYTON, Ohio (WDTN) - In mid-November, Annie D'Souza, a surgical nurse at Miami Valley Hospital, took a three week vacation to India to care for family. She and her husband Trevor left their two daughters in the United States and arrived in Goa, on the country's west coast November 15th, but it was only a week before things took a turn for the worse.

"Trevor started feeling sick," Annie D'Souza said.

Trevor had come down with a fever. After some prodding, he agreed to go to the doctor. The news wasn't good.

"He said, 'Oh my, he has got Dengue fever, I think so,'" said Annie.

Dengue fever is a disease transmitted through a mosquito bite. It can be deadly, especially when it progresses to include bleeding beneath the skin, which Trevor had. The doctor said he needed to be admitted into the intensive care unit immediately.

"His kidneys failed and he was very sick," Annie said.

India's health care system required the D'Souza's to pay cash for Trevor's care. The bill nearly wiped out their savings. Sitting by his bed, and thinking Trevor might die, Annie picked up the phone to call home.

"That night when he was in intensive care when I thought I was going to lose him," she said. "I had my daughter here (in Ohio), but I didn't want to call her and tell her how sick her father was, so I called the only person I remembered, I called my manager and I just told her to have people pray for me."

Susan Reese, a surgical technician at Miami Valley Hospital got that call.

"I decided that we needed to do something for them because we felt so helpless because there was nothing we could do to help her," Reese said.

After Susan shared the D'Souzas' story with others in the surgical unit, they came up with a plan to collect money. It was the only way these care-givers could reach out to their co-worker in need, so many miles away. In less than a week, the team had collected almost $2,000..

"We were just all so shocked and saddened to hear what had happened and that Trevor may be dying," said Franci Laforce, a surgery nurse. "Annie never fails to remember someone who may have a family member, or trouble in their own lives, she'll call, she'll pray for them. Trevor is just a sweetie."

With the money waiting back home, and hundreds of prayers for his well-being, Trevor's health turned around. After days of travelling for hours to pick up blood platelets for his transfusions, and later gathering volunteers to donate blood, doctors told Annie that it was no longer necessary.

"His platelet count miraculously came back to normal. I don't know how," said Annie.

Five weeks after they set out for India, the D'Souzas came home.

"To hear they were coming home, that Trevor was well enough to come home, it just felt so good," said Laforce.

"I thought I was going to have to make that trip alone," Annie said through tears.

The night they returned, a few of the nurses from Annie's surgical team came to visit. They brought with them a bucket full of money.

"Out of a brown bag she pulled out this big jar of money, and I was like, Oh my God!" said Annie. "We were really really stunned by the amount because that was really going to help us."

Still, the D'Souza's faced Christmas with no money for presents. Annie had promised her husband throughout his illness that she would work extra hours to cover the costs.

"Don't worry about the money, all I care is that you're alive," she said she told him.

But when Annie and her daughters put up the Christmas tree, she received another gift, a sign of the unconditional love of her children.

"They knew that there wouldn't be anything under the Christmas tree, and even after we got the gift they said, 'Mom you just pay off all your debts and don't work extra, just be with us.'"

Trevor continues to recover. According to his doctors, he might be able to return to work at Miami Valley Hospital sometime after the holidays.