Someone San Diego Should Know: Trisha and Gustavo Bernal

On July 3, 2020, the Bernal family experienced a tragedy when 3-year-old Malachi went missing during a gathering with friends. The boy had fallen in a pool. He was pulled out, CPR administered to his motionless body, and he was rushed to the hospital.

“They said we had three options: pull the plug, institutionalize him or take him home,” Trisha recalled. “We took him home. We knew we’d have to take care of him the rest of his life.”

Trisha’s husband, Gustavo, added: “Brain damage and all. He was still my Malachi.”

Neither parent was prepared for the extraordinary path they were about to follow — caring for Malachi, experiencing personal challenges and growth, and adopting an additional special needs child, Penelope.

Gustavo began as a custodian, became an elementary school’s lead custodian and rose to custodial operations supervisor for Poway Unified School District.

Trisha grew up helping her mom run a day care center and tutored students with learning disabilities, later working at a boarding school for at-risk girls.

After they married in 2006, they became foster parents. At the time of Malachi’s injury, they had three older children of their own and cared for two foster children.

“Our world was completely flipped,” Trisha said. “We had to learn a host of new things.”

Malachi is fed liquid diets every seven hours through a “G-tube” that is connected to his stomach. He cannot walk or speak. He needs help with bowel ...