After a month and half struggle, longtime broadcast photographer Julio Olivo is finally at rest. He died yesterday after hanging on to life following emergency emergency quintuple bypass (heart) surgery at Valley Regional Medical Center in Brownsville, Texas.
Three days after surgery on July 22, Julio fainted and lost consciousness an hour later.
Doctors were able to stabilize Julio after a 40 minute attempt. They sedated him to prevent pain and they removed sedatives a day or so later.
Julio remained still unconscious and in ICU. Friends started a fundraising campaign to assist him and his family.
Julio, a video journalist and a father of two, had been recently laid off from his Communications Specialist job at the University of Houston School of Public Health in Brownsville.
He was in the process of re-applying for disability benefits that were recently denied despite a recent heart attack.
Julio was an all-around good guy and an avid Boy Scout and Girl Scout troop leader who loved to camp with his children, Bruno, 20, an Eagle Scout and college student, and Sara, 13, despite the sizzling heat in South Texas. He was also a gifted artist and an avid Beatles fan. His favorite Beatle: John Lennon.
Julio was very well-known, loved and respected in the Rio Grande Valley by people from all walks of life. He held various jobs as a member of the media for outlets that include RGV Proud,Univision, Televisa and Vallevision.
But perhaps Julio is best known for his days as a young video journalist at KGBT-TV 4.
Our condolences go to his family. May peace be with them and with him.