AJ Sico was attending the Lapu Lapu festival in Vancouver on April 26 when tragedy struck.
He suffered a traumatic brain injury, along with multiple broken bones and nerve damage to his right eye, when an SUV drove into the crowd at the Filipino festival, killing 11 people and injuring more than two dozen others.
His cousin, 27-year-old Jendhel May Sico, was one of the people killed in the incident.
Sico, 30, is now non-verbal and unable to walk.
“He was in ICU, linked up to dialysis, linked up to a ventilator,” Vanessa Hill, Sico’s partner, told Global News.
“His face wasn’t his face. You could barely see his face. It was so puffy and swollen. So now to see him like this is amazing, like he’s come so far in these four months, and it’s just incredible.”
On the second day in the hospital, Hill says Sico suffered a stroke while undergoing an operation.
While Sico is non-verbal, he is able to express emotions and will laugh and cry.
He was recently moved from the hospital to long-term care, but Hill says it has been a struggle dealing with the health-care system and ICBC.
“This is someone who is set to fight for his life, and then he has to fight the system again to get any type of help in order to recover,” Hill said.
“It’s not fair.”
She added that every single step of the way, they encountered some sort of red tape.
“Everything is challenging and draining, and there’s no guidance from the hospital, really, there’s no care plan on what the steps we should take for him moving forward,” Hill said.
The family wants Sico to receive cognitive speech therapy and physiotherapy but are not sure of any plan moving forward.
“It’s an uphill fight every single step of the way,” Hill said.
“Everything has been hard. Nothing has been easy, nothing has been straightforward. Everywhere, we’re confused.”
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Perry Strauss, chief enhanced care officer at ICBC, said they have been working with Sico’s family and they have a dedicated adjuster assigned to the case.
“We’ve been able to support Mr. Sico and the family with the income replacement benefits, also an understanding of what is on the path forward for Mr.Sico and collaborating very closely with the care team,” he said.
“We understand that Mr.Sico has now been transferred over to a long-term care centre. And that’s where our role in supporting any additional services like physiotherapy or any other care efforts that are required come into play. And we move at the direction of the care team’s recommendations.”
Strauss said Sico will be eligible for permanent impairment awards, which are cash awards that recognize the impact of the injuries he sustained.
Sico’s family said he was not able to access additional treatment while he was in the hospital, which Strauss said is under the purview of the hospital. Now that Sico has been transferred to a long-term care centre, ICBC can start to provide additional therapies as needed.
Hill says a previous conversation with a physician left the family shaken.
“He was gonna suggest that, well, if this isn’t what you think he’d want, there are steps that can be taken,” Hill said.
“How horrendous, how disrespectful.”
Global News heard a recording of that conversation and the physician could be heard saying: “I’ve only seen one family with the strength to do that… When it was clear he wasn’t going to have the life he had before, their son, they asked if we can take out the tracheostomy and let him die.”
The family says they have now filed a complaint over the comment.
In a statement to Global News, Vancouver Coastal Health said it is deeply committed to supporting everyone involved in the Lapu Lapu festival tragedy.
“We are sorry to hear about the concerns raised by this family and immediately met with them to have a follow-up, caring conversation to understand how we may best support them during this difficult time,” the health organization said.
“The process of caring for patients and residents follows a highly coordinated, team-based protocol.
“The ongoing care of a patient or resident is of the utmost importance to our staff and medical staff. The transition from acute care to long-term care would only be supported by appropriate informed consent by the patient or someone acting on their behalf, and involves the development of a fulsome care plan, resulting from discussions about several available care options.”
Hill says they are just feeling forgotten.
“I think this completely has turned around his life fully,” she said. “I don’t think he can recognize his life right now. I think he’s in hell in his head.”
A GoFundMe for Sico and his family remains active.