Mark and Normarie emergency fund

Mark Valenti is organizing this fundraiser.

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Hello, my name is Mark Valenti. On the night of August 11th 2023, my spouse Normarie Kilgore and myself were attacked by our neighbor's boyfriend. The attacker threw a trash can at Normarie and when she tried to stop the trash can from hitting her, he ran up alongside her and punched her in the side of her head knocking her to the ground. I then stepped in between the attacker and my spouse and that's when I was attacked as well. The attacker tackled me to the ground and then jumped on top of me. He bit my left eyelid and pulled back as hard as he could. He then grabbed a cinderblock that was right next to me on the ground and began beating me over the back of the head with a cinderblock about 4 or 5 times if I recall correctly. This man attempted to kill me over a simple dispute with the neighbor, but by the grace of God I was able to somehow get him to stop for 1 second so I could get away.

The attacker would flee the scene at that moment before the cops came. I had to be rushed to the hospital in an ambulance with a large gaping wound in the back of my head and my left eyelid dangling. I received 10 staples in the back of my head and my eyelid had to be partially cut off and stitched back together. Normarie had to receive stitches on her ear.

This attack was very brutal, but the after effects have left us with a completely different life than we had before. The man who attacked my spouse and tried to kill me was hiding out in the same apartment the very next day. The neighbor herself brought over the attacker's friends to threaten us and try to intimidate us just 1 day after being out of the hospital. We have a 13 year old son and a 15 month old son at home. This place was no longer safe for us to keep our family there with this predator living on the other side of the wall from us.

My family was forced to move as this guy remained in hiding in the neighbor's apartment. We had no choice but to move several hours away for the safety of our family. Our family had to rent an AirBnB to stay in while we figured things out and prepared to move, a UHaul truck, and a big storage unit in our new city to accommodate all of our belongings.

Shortly after arriving to the new location, our family came down with Covid. At the same time, I had to be admitted to the hospital over here for almost a week because I had multiple bacterial infections growing in the wound on my head and in my eye as well as a large amount of fluid accumulating in the wound on my head. I have been out of work since the move due to all of these complications. And now we are having to temporarily relocate again due to hurricane Idalia and I may be out of work longer due to this.

Our 13-year old son had just started attending his preferred school in Tampa and was getting ready to start basketball and baseball there. He was really crushed to find out that we had to move and he could no longer attend this school. The changes have also had a huge impact on our 15-month old son's life as well. And my spouse has had changes that have affected her working conditions as well.

The attacker was arrested 12 days after the attack took place and then bonded out only 12 hours after that where he used the same apartment as his address and the other neighbors have contacted us to tell us that he is back on the premises and living in that apartment. Obviously, my family would not have been safe to continue living there and we made the right decision to move. We were forced out of our home even though we were the ones who were attacked and have received very little to no help from the police department and our former landlords. Our attacker has a long criminal record which includes multiple assault and assault with a deadly weapon charges and breaking and entering charges. Obviously, we would not feel safe being around this individual. His girlfriend, our neighbor, just 1 week prior to this incident was arrested for attempting to stab another neighbor's daughter. These people are dangerous and very aggressive.