When Alberto Reyes was only 2, his 5-year-old brother, Jaime Lazo, got hold of a lighter. Their mom, Maria, was outside the family’s Homestead house hanging clothes to dry. The boys climbed together under a mattress and set it on fire. Soon, the whole place was an inferno. Jaime jumped out the window, while little Alberto ran into a closet and covered himself in clothes.

By the time a neighbor freed Alberto, he had burns on 70% of his body, including his torso, arms, and face. Thirty-five years later, the scars are still there. And as a result of that accident, his heart beats only with the help of an electronic device.

“He is the most grateful patient there is,” says Zanrieann Harrell, supervisor for social work at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, where Reyes has been treated for heart issues the past few years. “Even when his condition was critical, he’d always remain positive.”

After the fire, Alberto was in a coma for almost a year. He was transferred to the burn center at Shriners Hospital in Cincinnati before returning to Florida. Doctors grafted skin and followed up with scores of treatments. This affected him mentally and physically. He told his mom that he wanted it to stop. “It was too much, with the cleaning, the scraping and the surgeries,” he said.

He dropped out of school in eighth grade. “There were bad kids who would make fun of me and I’d skip school,” he recalls, “So I didn’t finish it.”

Then in 2001, Alberto’s brother Jaime was struck and killed by a reckless driver who ran a red light at an intersection. “He got his first driver’s license,” Alberto says. “And that same week he got into a car accident.”

Alberto slowly recovered in the years that followed. He met Mariana Pulido, the youngest sister of one of his closest friends, six years after his brother’s death. She recalls that encounter with extreme fondness. He was 22. She was 19.

“He told my brother, ‘Oh I think your sister’s pretty. I would like to talk to her,’” Mariana says. “I’m like, ‘We’re not in middle school, don’t send a middle man.’ After that, he called me on the phone. We just started talking and the rest is history.”

They dated for 13 years and had two miscarriages after they had already decided on names: Alana and Logan. Today, Mariana has a tattoo on her ankle that includes both babies’ initials — A and L. Alberto took care of Mariana and never left her side. “I had to look out for her as she has always done for me,” Reyes says.

They finally married two years ago. But there was no wedding. They couldn’t afford it. Neither of them works outside the house. Alberto is unable. Mariana quit her job at Target a year ago to be Alberto’s full-time caretaker.

Alberto has had increased trouble breathing, and his heart has weakened. Doctors recently installed a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), a pump that is often used by patients who have reached end-stage heart failure. It helps the left ventricle pump blood to the rest of the body.

“Before he had the LVAD, he would walk and be out of breath,” Mariana says. “Now he has more independence and I can go back to work.”

The government pays for his medical care, but the couple is having financial difficulty this holiday season. Memorial Regional Hospital nominated him for help from the Miami Herald/el Nuevo Herald Wish Book program. Alberto is a computer game lover and would like a PS5 console from Wish Book. For him, video games are a way to make friends, develop his social skills and participate in a hobby he thoroughly enjoys.

How to help

To help this Wish Book nominee and the more than 100 other nominees who are in need this year:

▪ To donate, use the coupon found in the newspaper or pay securely online through www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

▪ For more information, call 305-376-2906 or emailWishbook@MiamiHerald.com

▪ The most requested items are often laptops and tablets for school, furniture, and accessible vans

▪ Read all Wish Book stories on www.MiamiHerald.com/wishbook

This story was written for Florida International University’s South Florida Media Network.