A beloved 65-year-old man from Reseda is on life support after being struck by a car while he was riding his bike late last week, and now his family is having to come to terms with a terrible choice.  

George Pareta had been riding his bike to Trader Joe’s, where he worked, on the morning of June 8 when a driver made a sudden turn in front of him, catapulting into the air and sending him crashing onto the pavement where he struck his head.  

Paramedics responded to the scene, and though the 65-year-old’s heart had stopped beating for some 25 minutes, they were able to resuscitate him and rush him to the hospital where he remains on life support.  

The victim’s family, along with his son, Jorge Pareta, said he was the best father possible, and now, after the latest update from doctors, they are faced with an unimaginable choice.  

“…between keeping him the way he is in an unresponsive state or taking him off life support,” Jorge said of the choice the family is now faced with. “We’re just holding out hope that a miracle happens.”  

The 65-year-old’s daughter, Camila Pareta, remembered him as someone who loved to dance and have a good time.  

“My dad is a really funny guy,” she told KTLA. “He makes anybody smile. He’s goofy and he’s just a really loving and funny guy.”  

The 65-year-old also loved to bike. An avid cyclist and spin instructor, he took his children on countless rides and instilled in them a love for the open road.

“We did eight 50-mile bike rides in Mexico. We’d go every year, and we’d do it together, ever since I was 8 years old, and every time we’d finish the ride, he’d jump off the bike and he’d be cramping up because he had to pull me up all the big hills. It was a fun time with him and it’s one of the nicest memories that we have, those bike rides together,” Jorge said.  

The day of the accident, Jorge had been riding the same route on his way to visit his father. He actually came across the crash scene.  

“They had already taken him away. His bike was there. I was able to recognize it,” he told KTLA. 

As the victim’s family, friends and coworkers gather at the hospital caring for him, they are holding onto hope and each other that Pareta will pull through this.  

“Cherish your parents,” Camila said. “Any issues you have with them, it doesn’t matter. Let it go and cherish them, hug them, tell them you love them. Life is unpredictable. You don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. Nothing’s promised.” 

The family is holding a fundraiser for Pareta this Friday in Burbank and has also started a GoFundMe campaign to raise money for mounting medical expenses.