Help Jordan, a shooting survivor

Jordan is a talented and ambitious young filmmaker from Baltimore who was tragically shot in the neck in a random robbery while his fiancée and child were sitting next to him in a car. He can’t earn money right now, and he and his young family need financial support while they navigate what comes next. I know Jordan as a work colleague, but he’s really just a very likable, warm young man to whom I feel a strong connection. Please read on for the whole story.

We hired Jordan to film one of our clients who does work around trauma for a philanthropic program to raise trauma awareness in Pennsylvania. We met and recorded in early May, 2022.

I had been in contact with Jordan regularly before the project and in the week following recording - when I suddenly stopped hearing from him, I began to worry. Calls, emails, text messages were not being answered - having built a friendly relationship with Jordan and knowing his dedication to his work, I knew this was unusual. On June 6th, about a month later, the audio engineer who had worked with Jordan on our project found me on instagram and sent me a message - Jordan had been shot in the neck in a robbery attempt the week after we recorded. He was receiving care at one hospital and had to be life flighted to a second where he was on ECMO (a machine that does the work of the heart and lungs).

This was crushing news - he’s about to turn 25 and his life has been altered radically in a robbery attempt. While visiting Jordan, I learned that his fiancée and her five year old son were in the car when this happened. His fiancée rushed him to the hospital with her child screaming in the back seat, terrified. She described driving and just trying to apply pressure anywhere because there was so much blood that she couldn’t tell where he’d been shot. She saved Jordan’s life, but they’re all deeply traumatized.

I visited Jordan a few weeks ago at the shock/trauma unit where he is receiving care. He was stepped down off of ECMO and is now breathing for some part of the day on his own and the rest of the day with the support of a tracheotomy. It was so good to see him - we were able to communicate using hand signs, typing, and lip reading, and Jordan shared how much he misses his dog. How much he misses his fiancée’s child. How much he misses eating food. I don’t have a good sense of his prognosis and I’m not sure his care team really know right now, either. I will say for someone who was on ECMO for two or three weeks, he has made incredible progress and I can see how determined he is to keep healing. His fiancée spoke tenderly and with a little chuckle about how he will probably get through this and be giving a TED Talk about the experience.

There is an enormous and overwhelming amount of uncertainty about Jordan’s future right now. Jordan’s work is, of course, completely halted. His lovely fiancée divides her time between staying with Jordan, caring for her child, and working - her mother has supported them by providing childcare and his fiancée spends the night at Jordan’s side whenever she can. At 24 years old, she has taken a crash course in providing care to the man she loves. It’s as heartening as it is heartbreaking. He will need months of rehab when the tracheotomy comes out and both he and his family will need meaningful support to get through the many challenges that lie ahead.

The investigation into the attack continues and I imagine there are infinite worries that come with the person being out there who did this to him and the trauma Jordan, his fiancée, and her child now carry. They all need access to mental health care, but they can barely see five inches past their noses right now. They also need income to help them survive this and there is really no replacement for that. This is a worthy young family who have been handed a terrible, tragic situation. All contributions will be given to Jordan to use for any unmet medical needs, assistive devices he may need, mental healthcare for him and his family, and to pay bills and supplement lost income while Jordan is recovering. I hope one day we can revisit this chapter when he tells how your support helped sustain him in this difficult time through a camera lens. Thank you for being part of his story.