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GLENDALE, Ariz.<\/strong> – A 42-year-old Glendale combat veteran went to Costa Rica for a weekend birthday trip, but it quickly turned into a nightmare. Now, he is back home battling kidney failure.<\/p>\n What we know:<\/p>\n Christopher Ayers served his country for a decade in the U.S. Air Force. But a mid-July beach getaway to Costa Rica with friends left the disabled veteran fighting a very different kind of battle.<\/p>\n “As soon as I get to my waist, that’s when everything just, it just flipped,” Ayers said.<\/p>\n While wading in the ocean, he says the situation turned in an instant.<\/p>\n Air Force veteran Christopher Ayers was swept away by a tide in Costa Rica, leading to acute renal failure and ongoing medical hurdles back home. <\/p>\n \u2018A nightmare’ <\/p>\n “Like it just felt like the ocean just grabbed me by the waist and pulled me over,” Ayers said.<\/p>\n Ayers was swept away by a sudden tide. Friends pulled him to shore, though tragically, another friend in their group did not survive. Ayers says it took 24 hours to get proper medical aid, a delay that triggered acute renal failure.<\/p>\n “It was a terrible experience. It was definitely a nightmare,” Ayers said.<\/p>\n Dig deeper:<\/p>\n Ayers\u2019 sister flew down to help get him to a hospital and eventually back home. But his medical battle continues.<\/p>\n Ayers says his follow-up VA appointments were abruptly canceled, leaving him without a crucial checkup for over a month as he strictly monitors his diet to protect his kidneys.<\/p>\n “I don’t know what my body looks like right now, so I just keep trying to stick to a good diet and minimize whatever will affect my kidneys,” Ayers said.<\/p>\n What you can do:<\/p>\n Ayers is now seeking community support as he navigates his long-term recovery and tries to maintain a routine as a full-time student. Click here<\/strong><\/a> to find his GoFundMe.<\/p>\n Veterans Issues<\/a>News<\/a>Arizona<\/a>Glendale<\/a>Travel News<\/a>Military<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"GLENDALE, Ariz. – A 42-year-old Glendale combat veteran went to Costa Rica for a weekend birthday trip, but…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1022753,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,40889,1588,1802,50,1589,18900,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,179406],"class_list":["post-1022752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-az","tag-glendale","tag-maricopa-county","tag-military","tag-news","tag-phoenix","tag-travel-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-veterans-issues"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117155167320482296","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022752","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1022752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1022752\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1022753"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1022752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1022752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1022752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/veteran-story.png\")
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