GoFundMe For Family Of Fatal Accident

Photo courtesy GoFundMe

  TOMS RIVER — A GoFundMe campaign has been started to help the father of five who died last month.

  After having been laid off from work two months prior, Juan Pablo Granados-Chavez returned to his place of employment and while things appeared to be looking up for him and his family, a tragic accident took his life.

   Granados-Chavez was working under his Chevy Silverado in his driveway on Jan. 23, the pickup truck rolled off the ramps, pinning him. He was found by his wife Sophia and she called for 911 for help. Their son Pablo, 16, grabbed a floor jack and used it to lift the passenger side of the vehicle so he could pull his father free.

  In the two weeks that followed, his wife stayed by Juan Pablo’s side as he laid in a hospital bed at Jersey Shore University Medical Center. He had been flown there following the accident. She prayed each day that he would wake up but on Feb. 6, her 40-year-old husband succumbed to his injuries, according to his obituary on the A.K. Macagna Funeral Home website.

  His death leaves the family in a financial crisis. Their neighbor Dawn Meehan has been leading efforts to help the family, including setting up the GoFundme campaign.

  The financial pressures of the layoff plus his hospitalization led to the gas company shutting off their service, and an attempt was made to repossess the vehicle Sophia was driving to go visit her husband in the hospital, Meehan said in an article in The Patch.

  A neighbor paid the gas bill and provided a month’s reprieve. The family has been provided food from other friends and gift cards have been donated to the family.

  Meehan said she hopes there will be a strong outpouring of support for the family and that it will illustrate “the real meaning behind ‘Toms River Strong’.”

To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.