Juan Gonzalez (Photo contributed by Carol Hewitt)
Visitation for Juan Gonzalez will be from 6 to 8 p.m., followed by a service from 8 to 9 p.m. at Fred Talley’s Parkview Chapel on New Calhoun Highway.
Gonzalez, 18, will be buried in his hometown in Guatemala.
He died last Friday from a heart condition called dilated cardiomyopathy, which means the heart is too weak to pump sufficient blood to the rest of the body.
Gonzalez was diagnosed with the condition in November.
After his initial diagnosis he spent a few months at Redmond Regional Medical Center and was later taken to Atlanta.
“We’re doing this because a lot of people have asked, people that supported him (Juan) and his family,” said Carol Hewitt, a nurse from Harbin Clinic who cared for Gonzalez while he was at Redmond and later spent time with him at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Atlanta.
Redmond officials and Congressman Phil Gingrey helped arrange Gonzalez’s parents to be flown to the U.S. from Guatemala to be with their son.
Almost a year ago, Juan left his parents and five siblings and came to the U.S. to work and earn money to send back to his family.
“We just felt like he deserved the service,” said Hewitt. “Things did not work out the way we had hoped, ... and he was extremely special. This is just a way of showing him and his family respect.”
Gonzalez was being evaluated for a possible heart transplant when he died.
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