Bring Ozzy Home
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The Quick Scoop
Ozzy Tong is facing a life-altering surgery amputation of his lower leg that will limit his mobility and ability to work.
Before he has his surgery, we'd like to help him move home to Gastonia where he has a friend who runs a motorcycle shop where Ozzy could pitch-in and have a core group of people to spend time with. The shop also serves as a meet-up spot for many of the friends that he had before he moved to Georgia.
It will take $3800 to get him and his dog, Buddy, moved from Marietta, GA back to Gastonia, NC and set up in a small place of their own.
The money raised beyond the first $3800 would go towards a prosthetic. Any amount you give would help us reach our goal.
Thanks so much for reading about Ozzy! More details of the accident and his needs are provided below.
Further details about Ozzy and Buddy from his friend Tony Martin:
Friends, I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about a friend who could really use and is honestly deserving of a helping hand. I’ve known Ozzy Tong very well for over 7 years and I know your consideration could make a big difference in his life.
Ozzy is a middle-aged guy with piercing green eyes, a quick smile & long black & gray ponytail who’s been a lot of places & done a lot of things. He’s a craftsman, a handy-man, a mechanic, a painter & cartoon artist & a chef…seriously. His two great loves are his custom bike and his malamute mutt, Buddy. He’s a decent, hard-working & capable guy who’s fallen on hard times.
Since 2012, he has had a very real, very serious struggle with an ankle injury that has gone very wrong. A broken bone led to an initial surgery which led to staph infection, which led to literally countless follow-up surgeries over these past 5 ½ years. Along the way, bone rot led to installation of a steel rod which led to further infection and flesh rot led to skin grafts. He has had many ups and downs…periods when things seemed ok and then, he worked hard, even to the detriment of his leg; and periods when he could barely get around, was suffering serious pain and was completely disabled. He has even had a recent discovery that the large quantity of drugs, from pain meds to antibiotics to a variety of other medications prescribed by several different doctors, has stressed his kidneys to the point of shut down and a need for dialysis.
Finally, while leg amputation has been a constant threat for the last 5 years, the doctors are now telling Ozzy it is imperative and it cannot wait any longer.
While Ozzy’s past includes a tough childhood, life as an orphan, & a variety of shenanigans, he does not use drugs and he does not abuse alcohol. He is on disability and he manages, almost, to get by on that.
Here’s the deal: Ozzy came to Marietta, Georgia from Gastonia, North Carolina about a dozen years ago for a particular romance that ended up not working out.
While he’s made a pretty good life for himself in Marietta, he has friends back in Gastonia who he is eager to reconnect with and he’d like to make a move.
Most notably, he has a close friend that owns a Harley repair shop who would love to have Ozzy hang out around his shop.
And for a variety of reasons, a far better option for him would be to make his move back to Gastonia, where he has a support system, then get the medical help he needs.
SO, we’re raising money to help Ozzy pack up & move back to Gastonia, and to pay the first few months of rent (or mortgage) while he’s recovering from surgery.
A bonus would be to raise enough money to pay for some portion of a decent prosthetic device, and they ‘ain’t cheap’. Needless to say, Ozzy does not have insurance and is completely reliant on government assistance for his medical care. HIS DREAM would be to make this move to a modest but decent house with a yard for Buddy and a place to keep his bike; after recovering from his amputation, he expects to get to hang out at the Harley shop, get his own bike back in running condition and be able to spend some time enjoy riding his bike again…something he has not been able to do in nearly 6 years and he’s literally living for. (So yes, while he could conceivably sell his bike to make this move, the bike is not currently running, (lack of money to buy parts) it would likely sell for far less than its real value, & it would also devastate Ozzy to let it go.)
WOULD YOU CONSIDER PITCHING IN as you are able, to help this decent guy make his way back home, to a place where real opportunity and long-term friends await?
Ozzy Tong is facing a life-altering surgery amputation of his lower leg that will limit his mobility and ability to work.
Before he has his surgery, we'd like to help him move home to Gastonia where he has a friend who runs a motorcycle shop where Ozzy could pitch-in and have a core group of people to spend time with. The shop also serves as a meet-up spot for many of the friends that he had before he moved to Georgia.
It will take $3800 to get him and his dog, Buddy, moved from Marietta, GA back to Gastonia, NC and set up in a small place of their own.
The money raised beyond the first $3800 would go towards a prosthetic. Any amount you give would help us reach our goal.
Thanks so much for reading about Ozzy! More details of the accident and his needs are provided below.
Further details about Ozzy and Buddy from his friend Tony Martin:
Friends, I’d like to take a few minutes to tell you about a friend who could really use and is honestly deserving of a helping hand. I’ve known Ozzy Tong very well for over 7 years and I know your consideration could make a big difference in his life.
Ozzy is a middle-aged guy with piercing green eyes, a quick smile & long black & gray ponytail who’s been a lot of places & done a lot of things. He’s a craftsman, a handy-man, a mechanic, a painter & cartoon artist & a chef…seriously. His two great loves are his custom bike and his malamute mutt, Buddy. He’s a decent, hard-working & capable guy who’s fallen on hard times.
Since 2012, he has had a very real, very serious struggle with an ankle injury that has gone very wrong. A broken bone led to an initial surgery which led to staph infection, which led to literally countless follow-up surgeries over these past 5 ½ years. Along the way, bone rot led to installation of a steel rod which led to further infection and flesh rot led to skin grafts. He has had many ups and downs…periods when things seemed ok and then, he worked hard, even to the detriment of his leg; and periods when he could barely get around, was suffering serious pain and was completely disabled. He has even had a recent discovery that the large quantity of drugs, from pain meds to antibiotics to a variety of other medications prescribed by several different doctors, has stressed his kidneys to the point of shut down and a need for dialysis.
Finally, while leg amputation has been a constant threat for the last 5 years, the doctors are now telling Ozzy it is imperative and it cannot wait any longer.
While Ozzy’s past includes a tough childhood, life as an orphan, & a variety of shenanigans, he does not use drugs and he does not abuse alcohol. He is on disability and he manages, almost, to get by on that.
Here’s the deal: Ozzy came to Marietta, Georgia from Gastonia, North Carolina about a dozen years ago for a particular romance that ended up not working out.
While he’s made a pretty good life for himself in Marietta, he has friends back in Gastonia who he is eager to reconnect with and he’d like to make a move.
Most notably, he has a close friend that owns a Harley repair shop who would love to have Ozzy hang out around his shop.
And for a variety of reasons, a far better option for him would be to make his move back to Gastonia, where he has a support system, then get the medical help he needs.
SO, we’re raising money to help Ozzy pack up & move back to Gastonia, and to pay the first few months of rent (or mortgage) while he’s recovering from surgery.
A bonus would be to raise enough money to pay for some portion of a decent prosthetic device, and they ‘ain’t cheap’. Needless to say, Ozzy does not have insurance and is completely reliant on government assistance for his medical care. HIS DREAM would be to make this move to a modest but decent house with a yard for Buddy and a place to keep his bike; after recovering from his amputation, he expects to get to hang out at the Harley shop, get his own bike back in running condition and be able to spend some time enjoy riding his bike again…something he has not been able to do in nearly 6 years and he’s literally living for. (So yes, while he could conceivably sell his bike to make this move, the bike is not currently running, (lack of money to buy parts) it would likely sell for far less than its real value, & it would also devastate Ozzy to let it go.)
WOULD YOU CONSIDER PITCHING IN as you are able, to help this decent guy make his way back home, to a place where real opportunity and long-term friends await?
Organizer
Kent Ostby
Organizer
Marietta, GA
