Help David Walk Again
Donation protected
The gentleman in the photo above is David (with my mom). Despite having been through some of the most heartbreaking experiences a person could face, David is one of the most optimistic & caring people I’ve ever met. David is a hard-working, gentle young man in Nairobi who drives long hours every day to support his family. I learned about David’s background while he was our go-to driver when my mom, younger sister, and I were in Kenya for several weeks while my dad was in intensive care at the Aga Khan University Hospital in Nairobi in Feb & March. Needless to say, it was an incredibly stressful time for us – especially for my mom – and David not only drove us to and from the hospital, hotel, stores, embassy, and funeral home (where he patiently waited with us for hours, as he often did) at all hours of the day/night, he helped us feel safe and stay hopeful while also becoming a trusted friend to us.
I’ve started my first GoFundMe to raise funds to help David get the third & hopefully last major surgery to enable him to walk without significant pain (and a cane) after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds last year.
When David was just 8 years old, his parents were killed in an automobile accident, so his older teenage brother stepped up, quit school, and started working to take care of the family. David stayed focused on his studies and helped take care of the household while his brother worked. His brother got married and had kids of his own, and they all lived together. Unbelievably, several years later when David was in his late teens, his brother and sister-in-law were also killed in a car crash, so David & his now wife, Frida, took in his brother’s children (Nelson & Joy) and have been taking care of them along with their own daughters, Tracy & Trina, ever since. Through all of that pain, David said his goal was to be able to move his whole family out of their small apartment into a house, and he worked hard for several years to make that finally happen in 2016.
Tragically, when David pulled into his driveway late one night after driving a long shift last Summer, he witnessed three thugs trying to break into his house, so he jumped out and confronted them. In the act of trying to protect his wife and the kids, David was shot three times, taking a bullet to the stomach, one to his pelvis, and one to his leg. He wasn’t able to walk or drive for months until friends and coworkers at the hospital, where he previously was a driver until he started working for himself, helped raise the money for the down payment to get the first two surgeries he needed to walk again.
Although David & I had spent many hours together over the course of the three weeks I was in Nairobi, he hadn’t opened up about the backstory of why he struggled to walk (even with a cane) until I shared the news that my father had passed away. David’s empathy, kindness, and words of support and hope truly helped me process one of the greatest losses of my life, and I know he understood to the core the grief I was and still am feeling.
Today, May 14th, would’ve been my dad’s 78th birthday. In honor of my dad, Roy Ostberg - a true humanitarian who helped literally thousands of people in his lifetime - I’m asking for your support to help David and his family move forward with their lives, as they helped me and my family. Your donation will help pay for David’s final pelvic surgery which I just learned has been put on hold until he gets the money to make the upfront payment of $3000 US dollars which will cover the cost of the upcoming procedure and hospital stay. All in, his total hospital bills are about $25,000 which is what only a few days in an ICU in the US would cost. Based on my experience, the medical teams at Aga Khan are very well-trained and compassionate.
I know it probably feels odd to donate money to someone you’ve never met and who lives on the other side of the world, but I can vouch that David is a wonderful, hard-working father who cares deeply about others, both friends and strangers, alike.
Thank you very much for anything you can contribute. Of course, please share this with anyone you think might be interested in helping. Thank you.
I’ve started my first GoFundMe to raise funds to help David get the third & hopefully last major surgery to enable him to walk without significant pain (and a cane) after sustaining multiple gunshot wounds last year.
When David was just 8 years old, his parents were killed in an automobile accident, so his older teenage brother stepped up, quit school, and started working to take care of the family. David stayed focused on his studies and helped take care of the household while his brother worked. His brother got married and had kids of his own, and they all lived together. Unbelievably, several years later when David was in his late teens, his brother and sister-in-law were also killed in a car crash, so David & his now wife, Frida, took in his brother’s children (Nelson & Joy) and have been taking care of them along with their own daughters, Tracy & Trina, ever since. Through all of that pain, David said his goal was to be able to move his whole family out of their small apartment into a house, and he worked hard for several years to make that finally happen in 2016.
Tragically, when David pulled into his driveway late one night after driving a long shift last Summer, he witnessed three thugs trying to break into his house, so he jumped out and confronted them. In the act of trying to protect his wife and the kids, David was shot three times, taking a bullet to the stomach, one to his pelvis, and one to his leg. He wasn’t able to walk or drive for months until friends and coworkers at the hospital, where he previously was a driver until he started working for himself, helped raise the money for the down payment to get the first two surgeries he needed to walk again.
Although David & I had spent many hours together over the course of the three weeks I was in Nairobi, he hadn’t opened up about the backstory of why he struggled to walk (even with a cane) until I shared the news that my father had passed away. David’s empathy, kindness, and words of support and hope truly helped me process one of the greatest losses of my life, and I know he understood to the core the grief I was and still am feeling.
Today, May 14th, would’ve been my dad’s 78th birthday. In honor of my dad, Roy Ostberg - a true humanitarian who helped literally thousands of people in his lifetime - I’m asking for your support to help David and his family move forward with their lives, as they helped me and my family. Your donation will help pay for David’s final pelvic surgery which I just learned has been put on hold until he gets the money to make the upfront payment of $3000 US dollars which will cover the cost of the upcoming procedure and hospital stay. All in, his total hospital bills are about $25,000 which is what only a few days in an ICU in the US would cost. Based on my experience, the medical teams at Aga Khan are very well-trained and compassionate.
I know it probably feels odd to donate money to someone you’ve never met and who lives on the other side of the world, but I can vouch that David is a wonderful, hard-working father who cares deeply about others, both friends and strangers, alike.
Thank you very much for anything you can contribute. Of course, please share this with anyone you think might be interested in helping. Thank you.
Organizer
David Ostberg
Organizer
San Francisco, CA