DORAL, FLA. (WSVN) - A CrossFit community came together to exercise and raise money in a show of support after a sudden and severe health scare for one of its coaches.
Workout warriors showed up to Zoom Fitness near Northwest 25th Street and 96th Avenue in Doral, Saturday morning.
They gathered to raise funds for Jourgan Rodriguez, who suffered a stroke while coaching a class on Christmas Eve.
Days later, his colleagues said, Rodriguez is showing remarkable improvement, but the road to recovery will be long.
“We didn’t expect that to happen, On Christmas Eve, in the middle of a class,” said co-worker Natalia Martinez. “That’s life everybody’s worst dream coming true.”
It was the last health problem anyone would have expected for the 31-year-old coach. Fortunately, a nurse was in his class, and he received medical care immediately.
The confirmation that he had suffered a stroke came after he got to the hospital.
The CrossFit community then did what it does best: band together and give.
Participants on Saturday rowed, burpeed and biked to raising money for a coach who, they said, is well-known in the community.
Doctors said Rodriguez is looking at three to five hours of therapy on a regular basis during a six-month rehabilitation.
“We’ve raised over $15,000 already for Jourgan’s GoFundMe account, because Jourgan doesn’t have insurance,” said Martinez.
Friends have been left struggling to understand how this could have happened to someone so seemingly healthy.
“He’s somebody healthy, somebody that does exactly what I do, is probably about the same age that I am — 30, 31,” said Darryl Hernandez, a friend of Rodriguez, “so it was very, very scary at first and unbelievable.”
But friends also said Rodriguez is bouncing back.
“I had an uncle who had a stroke two years ago, and it was very tough for me to see him in that situation, so going in there and talking to Jourgan was very, very tough because it was similar. ” said Hernandez. “I tried to hold my composure as much as I could, but eventually I had to break down.”
“He’s much better. He’s speaking in sentences, which two days ago he was not,” said Martinez. “If the local community can help as much as possible to help a young man in need, he’s a phenomenal person with a great heart.”
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