Please consider donating to this fund for my daughter’s sweet and caring boyfriend, Nic Edwards. He was assaulted by a group of young men over the weekend while visiting my daughter in Springfield. She is a junior at Missouri State University.

They were on a walk home, enjoying the nice weather, after a date night of dinner and drinks. On their walk, a silver SUV with four young males approached them and stopped at a light near where they were walking. They began to shout suggestive remarks at my daughter. Nic and Chloe started to walk in a different direction to avoid the vehicle. They circled the block and, again, stopped near where they were walking.

When the car stopped, one of the young men jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward them. Nic asked Chloe to run as the man approached them. When Nic began to move in Chloe’s direction, he glanced back only to be met with a hard blow to the mouth from the young man’s fist – a “sucker punch” if you will. The young man had lunged toward Nic, punched him, knocked out one front tooth and dislocated three others. He fell to the ground, knocked out and took a moment to regain his senses as my daughter fell to her knees in fear, panic and tears. The young man ran back to the vehicle. My daughter heard laughter as they sped off.

A little about Nic, he is as honorable as they come and such a gentlemen to my sweet girl. He has been part of our family since her early years of high school and they’ve stayed strong through her college years. He’s currently pursuing his nursing degree at Jefferson College, which perfectly suits his character. He was raised by a wonderful, single mom who is recovering from cancer. And, simply put, they’ve had a hard time catching a break.

Today, Nic had his first root canal and needs to replace all four teeth. While we are thankful that this was not much worse, the cost is estimated over $7,000 and not covered by insurance. This leaves a financial hole that’s difficult to climb out of for a 21-year-old kid and that burden can’t fall on his mother’s shoulders given her own recent health struggles with ovarian cancer. Plus, after speaking with police, its unlikely they will end up finding the culprit of this attack or much less, get them to foot the bill. 

If you do have the flexibility, please help cover the medical and dental expenses incurred from this meaningless and senseless crime. Thanks so much for your consideration.

Susan Casey