Man Recovers From Bacterial Infection

Jim Cronin, the 39-year-old South Jersey man who fell ill with a rare bacterial infection at Thanksgiving has recovered from surgery. He needed open heart surgery, but his medical insurance had run out.

"It's like being born again. This is my world right here. I hate to leave this," Cronin said.

Cronin almost died on the operating table, and he never knew how close until he woke up in a hospital bed, facing a doctor who told him.

After six weeks of battling a rare bacterial infectioun that ravaged his heart and left lesions on his brain, Cronin told his wife he would come home.

"I didn't believe him. I thought he was making it up. And every time he said something, I was like, let me go check with the nurses because I want to talk with somebody and see if you're making it up," his wife said.

Cronin was unable to work as a truck driver, the family had no medical insurance to cover the $50,000 in hospital bills so their kids' soccer coach, Patty Gilliano, started the Jim Cronin fund, which has raised more than $22,000 so far.

"If it wasn't for that fund, he wouldn't be here right now because that's the only way I can pay for that medicine. I have him home for Christmas because of everybody out there," Cronin's wife said.

Cronin will not be able to work for at least another four months, so his family will be even more dependent on the funds for medical and living expenses. And to that end there will be another fundraiser held this Sunday at four local bowling alleys in South Jersey.

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