On June 19th, 2025, I suffered a life-altering injury during Jiu Jitsu class at 10th Planet Portland. With a turtled training partner in front of me, I was inserting my hooks when we both rolled to our sides and my foot got caught on the mat. It’s a mundane transitional position, but the docs say it’ll be the end of my BJJ journey. I spiral fractured the tib and fib in the shin, broke the tib above the ankle and below the knee, and there’s a 5th break in the upper fib. As a result, I’ve had a rod inserted down the middle of the tib from knee to ankle, with various screws holding the breaks together. I spent over a week in the hospital, 2 weeks after that wheelchair-bound, then another two weeks on a walker. I’m now on crutches for the next couple of months until I can graduate to a cane. Rehab should be about a year, but I won’t know if I need more surgeries until about November.

On that note, I’m being forced to pay for rehab out of pocket. As a disabled combat veteran, the VA should be providing physical therapy. However, due to recent budget and staff cuts from our current political administration, the VA has been unable to get me into PT and there is no expectation for that to change in the coming weeks. The general medical consensus is that people with my injury should be starting rehab 3-4 weeks after surgery. Since that was 2 weeks ago for me and the VA isn’t coming through, I’m being faced with the proposition of paying for rehab out of pocket despite being an insured military vet.

Making that all the more difficult is the fact that I was laid off from my job in the federal government by the current political administration just a few weeks before this injury. That alone had me facing some serious hardships as a single father in this economy. Compound that with this debilitating injury and it’s definitely not making the job search any easier.

Any funds raised will go directly to medical expenses for PT and living expenses for my 4-year-old, Malik’Kai and I.

It’s not easy for me to admit, but I need help. It’s at the suggestion of teammates and loved ones that I’m resorting to a GoFundMe as I work through mounting medical issues and the financial hardships that entails. I’m thankful for any help, especially from our local Jiu Jitsu community. Thanks for hearing me out, helping me get back on my feet (literally), and back on the mats ASAP.