Leslie Caoili’s husband is rallying skilled volunteers to make their Spring Valley home wheelchair-accessible before her discharge from months of hospitalization.
Leslie Caoili, 41, a competitive strength athlete and mother of two from Spring Valley, California, went to a routine heart checkup in May and was diagnosed with a life-threatening Type A aortic dissection, a catastrophic tear in the main artery coming from her heart. The condition required immediate surgery for cardiopulmonary bypass and extensive reconstruction of her aorta.
“She probably had maybe hours left to live,” her husband, Amery Lee Caoili, said.
The mother of two daughters had competed throughout San Diego as a strength athlete before the heartbreaking discovery. The Caoili family had hoped the extensive surgical procedure would resolve their concerns, but she lost blood flow to her hands and feet in the weeks following the operation.
“We didn’t really know how her body was gonna respond to the initial surgery, but she ended up losing blood flow to her hands and her feet, and by the end of the first month there, her hands and her feet were blackened and shriveled,” Caoili said.
With no improvement in blood circulation, doctors were forced to amputate her hands at the mid-forearm, as well as both legs. She has been hospitalized for a few months and will soon be discharged.
While her family is thrilled to bring her home, their house is far from ready for her current needs. Amery Lee Caoili is asking skilled volunteers to help pull off a complete home overhaul to ensure Leslie returns to an accessible environment.
He is specifically seeking electricians, HVAC technicians, roofers, flooring installers, and painters to assist with the renovations.
“She just wants to come home to her family and her kids and her dog and me and wants to get back to living life as normal as we can make it for her,” Caoili said.
The family has created a GoFundMe to help with the expenses associated with Leslie’s care and the home modifications.
In the viral moment that brought national attention to the family’s plight, Leslie’s story spread across social media and news outlets as a shocking example of how a routine medical appointment can spiral into life-altering consequences. The strength athlete, once competing across San Diego, became the face of a medical nightmare that few could imagine facing after a standard checkup.
The family continues to focus on Leslie’s recovery and the practical challenges of adapting their home for her new physical needs, with the husband actively coordinating volunteer efforts and fundraising to make her return possible.
The Caoili family is working toward Leslie’s upcoming discharge from the hospital where she has spent several months recovering from the amputations.