Erik’s Eye Injury and Recovery

Hello, My name is Buddy Tomei and I am raising money for a very dear and close friend of mine Erik DiGiacomo.

On the weekend of April 22,2023, Erik and I were sighting in a new gun scope on a 22. Caliber rifle. Spent casings were thrown into the fire, but a live round went off sending shrapnel into Erik’s left eye.

His wife, and our friend Johnny, rushed him to the closest hospital. After a CT scan, the medical staff informed him that he had a foreign object, roughly 10x2 MM in size, lodged in the rear of his eyeball.

The medical staff informed us that he had a 6 hour window and that the eye was deflating. He was immediately flown to Savana for emergency surgery.

The surgeon was unable to remove the object. The surgeon made the decision to stitch the incision and reattempt removal in a few weeks, giving the surrounding area time to heal before a second attempt at removal.

We all know how fast medical bills can escalate, especially when out of state Med Flight is involved.

Erik has been as close a brother to me for over 20 years. He does not get paid while he isn’t working. He has a wife and 2 small children.

If I were in the financial position to fund this entire emergency I would. I am not, so I am humbly asking for your assistance in doing our best to make Erik and his family and as comfortable as they can be through this time of tragedy.

Thanks in advance for whatever help you can afford to donate to this cause.

Buddy Tomei

*UPDATE* 4/26/23

Amanda, Erik’s wife, made the decision to bring him to Miami through the emergency Bascom and Palmer eye institute for a follow up to do another CT and UltraSound. They have decided to keep Erik over night and do another surgery to hopefully remove the foreign body. If that is successful… another surgery will happen in about a week to fix anything else they see in there.

*UPDATE* 4/27/23

Erik was in surgery for 3+ hours.

*UPDATE* 4/28/23

(From Amanda)

Good morning!! Just got THE BEST post op news! Erik’s surgery went SUPER well! The surgeon said the piece of metal was quite big but was in the perfect spot… for an eye trauma. They took out the metal completely, fixed his retina, filled his eyeball with an oil to keep the structure.

Upon taking his patch off Erik immediately saw light, he could see the number of fingers, colors and best of all could READ LETTERS!!!!!

Thank you all for your non stop prayers and thoughts. Our boy is so so tough and God is so good we love you all so so much