A Tucson woman is trying to raise funds to get her husband medical care in the United States after he was severely burned in a diesel truck explosion in neighboring Sonora, Mexico.
Salvador Valenzuela, 29, was driving a diesel truck Sunday on a highway near the Sonoran town of Caborca when the truck exploded. Passersby pulled his body from the burning vehicle and he was taken to a hospital in Hermosillo. But with third-degree burns covering more than half of his body, family members say his doctors want him to be transported to Tucson for a higher level of care.
"If he gets to Tucson he could actually survive," said JoAnn Acosta, aunt to Valenzuela's wife, Vanessa Mariles. "The likelihood of him surviving in Hermosillo is minimal. If that. They’ve acknowledged that they don’t have the medical capacity, the equipment to deal with such a grave condition."
Acosta said at Tucson's Banner University Medical Center have already accepted Valenzuela, a Mexican citizen, as a patient and could provide lifesaving medical treatment. If transported to Tucson, he would also be closer his family, including his nearly two-year-old daughter.
However, the family is struggling to scrape together tens-of-thousands of dollars to pay for transportation and hospital fees. They set up a GoFundMe page, and are hoping people on both sides of the border will help them raise the needed funds.
The cause of the explosion that caused Valenzuela's injuries is still under investigation.
