Story Brings Outpouring of Aid for Car Victim

John Ferguson has read plenty of stories about people down on their luck. But the story of what happened to Gudelia M. Calva, eight months pregnant when she was struck by an automobile and critically injured, inspired Ferguson to do more than just turn the page.

He established a trust fund through his Irvine land development company that is helping Calva and her family with the costs of medical care, child care and finding a better place to live.

“I had to do something about it,” said Ferguson, president of Ferguson Partners. “The thing that grabbed me was that here was this healthy normal person walking down the street . . . and her life was shattered.”

Ferguson is not alone in reaching out to help Calva. The family has received about $2,500 in donations since an article about them appeared in The Times on Nov. 4, and a group of volunteers has mobilized to help with everything from doctor’s visits to baths for Calva’s 2-year-old son.

Calva, a 31-year-old mother of five who is still bedridden four months after her accident, said she is amazed that so many people have responded.

“I prayed to God for help,” she said. “These must be the angels.”

Strangers have stopped by the family’s tiny one-room apartment with bags of groceries, hot soup and donations. Others have offered clothes, furniture, blankets and even a gas stove.

“I’ve been so low I could sit on a cigarette paper and dangle my feet, but help came along the way,” said Helen Schiller, who is coordinating donations gathered by the employees of Rainbow Technologies of Irvine. “Now I want to do that for someone else.”

In letters accompanying donations for Calva, many readers said they wanted to help because she was struggling to survive a catastrophe that wasn’t her fault.

It was around midnight on July 3 when Calva, unable to resist a craving for a fish sandwich, set out on foot to a nearby fast food restaurant. Halfway across the intersection of 1st Street and Harbor Boulevard in Santa Ana, Calva was struck by an alleged drunk driver traveling 90 m.p.h. The child she was carrying did not survive.

She was hospitalized for three months, during which she spent one month in a coma and underwent eight operations. The state’s program that helps poor people with medical expenses covered Calva’s $340,000 hospital bill, but will not pay for physical therapy because she is an illegal immigrant.

Through a doctor’s visit arranged by Ferguson last week, Calva was able to have her first medical evaluation since being released from the hospital Oct. 3. The doctor prescribed some new pain medications and referred her to an occupational therapist who will design a physical therapy regimen, said Jorge Soqui, Calva’s husband.

“The most important thing is that she receives medical care,” Soqui said.

But also essential to the family’s recovery is getting Soqui back in the work force. He quit his job to care for the two younger children and dispatched Calva’s three teen-agers to Mexico to be cared for by his family.

Since Calva was released from the hospital, Soqui has been reluctant to leave her alone for fear of a medical emergency happening while he is away. But through the trust fund, a housekeeper has been hired to stay with Calva and the children during the day, and Soqui has been able to look for work.

Other volunteers, such as Valerie Adnani of Yorba Linda, stop by regularly with hot food and household supplies. Adnani, who has volunteered to drive Calva to doctor’s appointments, said she wants to help the family because social service agencies are only able to provide limited assistance to illegal immigrants.

“They have been here working, making their way. It doesn’t matter that they weren’t here legally,” Adnani said. “Our society doesn’t take care of the people who are really in need.”

Soqui is now completing arrangements to move to a new apartment, one with proper plumbing and electrical wiring, one where his daughter won’t have to sleep on the floor of the closet anymore. Ferguson said he was appalled by the cramped and unsafe quarters where the family has been living.

“In the context of (the wealth) of Orange County, I wasn’t ready to see it,” Ferguson said. “We walked in and she had a Bible by her on the bed. She was very moved by people caring about her.”

Ferguson has offered to co-sign the rental agreement for a new apartment and help with move-in costs. He has also offered Soqui legal assistance in seeking a work permit, and employees of Ferguson’s company have agreed to donate $5 a paycheck for the next few months to help the family.

“They need kind of a safety net under them,” Ferguson said. “Jorge is very proud. The only way I could get him to cooperate was to tell him to consider this a loan.”

Schiller, of Rainbow Technologies, said she has collected household items from fellow employees that she plans to deliver to the family’s new apartment--clothes for the children, blankets, a lamp and a microwave oven.

“A lot of people are down, and they don’t have jobs, but they have their physical health,” Schiller said. “This woman is flat on her back. It’s a miracle she’s even alive. She’s a survivor. She’s tough. That’s what appeals to me.”