South Jersey community comes together to help beloved police officer after emergency surgery

VOORHEES, N.J. - An outpouring of support in South Jersey for a beloved police officer recovering from emergency surgery. The officer is a familiar face to many in Voorhees.

What began as a stomachache for a Voorhees police officer assigned the Early Childhood Center at Congregation Beth El turned out to be a lot more. He’s recovering in the hospital after major surgery and very missed.

"Orlando is beyond beloved here. He goes beyond just our protector. He cares about every one of these children," Director of Early Childhood Center at Congregation Beth El, Ayelet Mittelman, said.

But, Officer Orlando Perez is no longer at his usual post inside Congregation Beth El or outside greeting families. He’s at Virtua Hospital in Voorhees, where he’s been since August 23rd.

"Today is probably one of my better days," Officer Perez said. He was working at the synagogue last month when he started having stomach pains. "And, I said, ‘Okay, maybe I’m hungry. Maybe I’m just hungry.’"

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When the pain persisted for days, his doctor suspected he had appendicitis. When he went in for surgery, there were complications.

"A normal appendix is six to seven millimeters. Mine was 10 and was flipped upside down," Perez explained.

There was a large mass on his appendix that was fused to his colon. "So, they removed my appendix, the mass and a foot-long piece of my colon."

What started as a two-week recovery, is stretching into two or three months before Officer Perez is back to work.

"Those kids are like everything to me. I come to work and I know 99 percent of them by name. The parents, they’re all…the parents are great," Perez described his work environment.

They feel the same way about him. Many in the community are contributing to a GoFundMe to help Officer Perez, a father of five, including a son with Down Syndrome, and a grandfather of six.

"He’s part of our family. He’s part of the community and we want to make sure we are taking care of him," Mittelman said. "He engages with everybody, so we’re really feeling the loss of not having him."

Officer Perez appreciates the love and support. "It makes me emotional thinking about the amount of people that have stepped up for me."

It’s not clear when Officer Perez will be discharged from the hospital, but once he is out, he is facing physical therapy and rehabilitation. Anyone interested can contribute to the GoFundMe, here.