Kauai man loses legs
to bacterial infection

A 26-year-old Kauai man has been in intensive care at the Queen's Medical Center for nearly five months with a life-threatening bacterial infection.

Both of Kimo Jardin's legs were amputated because of the infection, said his mother, Heidi Caldeira of Anahola. "They had to amputate to save his life."

Sean "Seanieboy" Tayco, a Kauai disc jockey and concert promoter, organized a fund-raising concert for Jardin that will start at 5 p.m. Sunday at Whalers Brewpub at the Kauai Lagoons. He said several bands have volunteered to play.

Friends approached him to do a benefit concert "for this guy Kimo," and he began putting it together before learning it was Kimo Jardin, his friend, he said. The two had worked together in 1996 at a restaurant at Poipu Beach.

Caldeira said her son has medical insurance, but costs are running over $2 million, "not even counting rehabilitation, long-term care and redoing our house so we can bring him back home."

It is not known how Jardin was infected. A state transportation worker, he was getting ready to go to work on Jan. 6 "and just complained of having the flu," Caldeira said. "He collapsed at home."

He was flown to Queen's Jan. 7 when vital organs began to fail.

"He was so dehydrated. He didn't have blood pressure, and his heart rate was very high," his mother said.

Now, he is on life support systems, she said.

Caldeira and Jardin's father, Gary Jardin, have been at their son's bedside since he arrived at Queen's.

His condition remains critical, "but from last week, they told us he's making small progress. That is the first time we've been hearing those words," she said.

Doctors were concerned that he would be unable to move his arms, which were also infected, but he is moving his right arm, she said. "It's very strong. ... We are all thankful for that."

She believes he is aware that he lost his legs. Once when his sister, Ashley Jardin of Oahu, was in the room with him, "his bed came forward, he pushed his head up and looked down, and he had a tear," Caldeira said.

She said her daughter told him, "Don't worry. You've been sick so long but you're getting better. You've got to keep fighting." She asked if he was going to give up, and he said no, Caldeira said.

Kimo Jardin graduated in 1996 from Kauai High where he was a baseball and football player, his mother said. In recent years he loved riding motorcycles and boogie boards.

"He's an amazing boy," she said. "We have faith and hope that he's going to go through rehabilitation. A lot of people are praying for Kimo."