John Cruz — who was better known as Mango Man during the decades he spent as a fixture along Kamehameha Highway in Kaneohe and later along Hamakua Drive in Kailua — now lives a simple, quiet life by the shoreline in a private rental unit in Kahaluu.
At the age of 69, the story of Cruz’s life and how he ended up homeless — including getting hit by a vehicle that years later cost him his festering left leg — remains as uncertain as his future.
“A lot of people thought he was dead,” said Dr. Chad Koyanagi, psychiatrist for the Institute for Human Services, which operates Hawaii’s largest homeless shelters and is responsible for homeless outreach services for Windward Oahu.
In December 2016 Cruz was found by Koyanagi and Honolulu police, firefighters and paramedics at the bridge next to Firestone Complete Auto Care along Hamakua Drive. Maggots were crawling from a rotting hole in his infected leg, exposing the metal support that was surgically inserted after he was hit by a vehicle years before.
“You could see the hardware. You could see the metal sticking out of his knee,” Koyanagi said. “The leg was infected, and maggots were pouring out of the hole. Then it had to be cut off.”
Cruz’s landlord and caretaker, Frank Medrano, is building a new living space for Cruz on the ground floor of his three-story home next to the ocean. Even when it’s eventually finished, Cruz’s living arrangements will likely be only temporary.
For now, Cruz is renting a wheelchair-friendly bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in a home next door that Medrano also owns.
Medrano, who will turn 80 in May and is experiencing early signs of dementia, said he needs to find a longer-term housing and health care arrangement for Cruz, whom he can no longer lift or carry.
He’s also under family pressure to move Cruz out — into the new apartment Medrano is building next door — so Medrano’s adult grandchildren can take over the suite currently occupied by Cruz.
Medrano and Cruz met two years ago when the latter was getting discharged from Castle Medical Center after his left leg was amputated. At the time, Medrano was trying to get his wheelchair- friendly living space licensed as a foster care home. Medrano never got the license, but was referred to Cruz, whose monthly Veterans Affairs benefit is not enough to cover a licensed care home, Koyanagi said.
Although they had never met, Medrano had seen Cruz standing by the road, usually wearing an Army jacket, and later leaning on a walker after Cruz was struck and injured.
“He was a tall, lanky guy with long dreadlocks,” Medrano said. “I had heard stories of his good deeds. He was like a protector of the ones being bullied.”
Cruz is 6 feet tall and weighs 215 pounds. He is primarily lifted by Medrano’s son-in-law, Jason Maxwell, 38.
Cruz’s current financial and health care situation is as unusual as the lore that surrounds the man known as Mango Man, Koyanagi said. He receives $1,800 in monthly VA benefits, which pays for room and board and other daily services provided by Medrano and Maxwell, most typically getting Cruz in and out of bed.
In Hawaii, Cruz’s monthly income is not enough to pay for a licensed facility and is too high to qualify him for Medicaid benefits, Koyanagi said.
“The uniqueness of this case is that he doesn’t qualify for a lot of stuff,” Koyanagi said. “He’s kind of in a gap.”
Medrano said he and Cruz only have a landlord-tenant relationship, but he nevertheless feels a responsibility to help him find a permanent housing situation and basic services for the long term.
During a medical appointment at the VA clinic, Cruz suffered a post-traumatic stress disorder episode triggered by being around other veterans, according to Medrano.
“It was very ugly,” he said. “Real ugly.”
“On the war stuff he doesn’t talk about it much,” Maxwell said. “We all know Vietnam wasn’t pleasant.”
Cruz never wants to return to the VA facility, and certainly does not want to be hospitalized for the rest of his life, Medrano and Koyanagi said. He has no interest in being around other hospitalized veterans, Koyanagi said.
“They have a center for aging at Tripler and long-term housing,” Koyanagi said. “But he clearly doesn’t want that.”
And so a Kailua resident named Dani Tow has created a gofundme.com campaign account to raise $25,000 on Cruz’s behalf. As of Saturday the campaign had raised more than $12,824.
The money will hardly cover the veteran’s lifetime financial needs, but Tow believes she needs to start somewhere.
On the gofundme.com page, Tow wrote:
“To be clear, for those concerned, this money is not being given to John, it is going to his caretaker Frank for room and board to be distributed monthly from the gofundme. Basically, we the community are privately paying with donations for him to stay where he is because John’s benefits are not enough. This is where John wants to be. If he is moved he will need even more money because all affordable options are full, and anything else is twice as expensive. I understand this is confusing, but this is how we had to do this because of how the system is set up.”
Tow told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that she felt Cruz protected her along Kamehameha Highway as she waited to board TheBus each morning to get to Saint Francis School.
“We go way back, since I was a teenager,” Tow said.
Tow grew up in Kaneohe and waited every school day at TheBus stop across from Windward Mall. It was the same bus stop where Cruz stood, usually silently, with dreadlocks hanging over his face.
Tow said she didn’t feel threatened by him.
“I would buy him a musubi. It was a thing we did for years,” she said. “I was never afraid of him. I felt safe for some reason. … For the years, all of us have cared for him in some way. We all have our stories.”
Koyanagi said Cruz’s situation haunts him.
“I think about it often,” he said. “It’s too bad that he has to go to this gofundme stuff. … He kind of lies in bed most of the day, stares at his finger. … He’s kind of a big guy to lug around.”
Cruz has a state public guardian, Roger Petticord, who cannot discuss Cruz’s financial situation, according to Jan Kagehiro, spokeswoman for the state Judiciary, which oversees the Office of the Public Guardian.
“However, because he (Cruz) has chosen to share his story with the public, we can confirm that his housing options are restricted based on the allotted benefits he receives through the VA,” Kagehiro wrote in an email to the Star-Advertiser.
“As to whether Mr. Cruz was examined by a VA doctor sometime last year, yes, that is correct. In response to whether Roger can comment on the gofundme page on Mr. Cruz’s behalf: We decline comment on this fundraising activity.”
During an interview with the Star-Advertiser, Cruz was polite and clear in his thoughts.
He said he was born in April 1949, one of seven brothers and sisters. He was given the nickname “Mango Man” by his older brother, Bobby, who has since died.
Cruz offered no other information about the reason for his nickname or other key points in his life, such as his time in “the service” after graduating from Kailua High School in 1967, or the events that led to his being homeless on the Windward side after he returned to civilian life.
Asked when he left the military and ended up homeless, Cruz said, “1970-something.”
Asked what his life was like in Kaneohe and Kailua before he ended up living in Medrano’s home, Cruz said only, “It was OK.”
Told that lots of people saw him standing for years along Hamakua Drive, Cruz said, “Oh, yeah. Yeah.”
Asked if he’s feeling better, even though he relies on a wheelchair, Cruz said, “Yeah.”
There are blank chapters of Cruz’s life.
He told the Star-Advertiser he attended Castle and Kailua high schools, which is supported by yearbook references at both schools.
Medrano said Cruz was told he will be moved into a new space in the home next door, but he doesn’t like change.
“He knows something’s happening,” Medrano said.
For the near future, at least, Medrano remains committed to housing and caring for the once-homeless figure known as Mango Man.
“I grew up in Kona,” Medrano said. “You take care of your elders, no matter if family.”
