Praying for Tyshawn
This morning I got one of those text messages that NO ONE ever wants to get. It said simply,
"Text me when you get this.
Tyshawn may not make it."
The message was from his wife, Rebecca, who just had a birthday yesterday. Tyshawn had walked up to the grocery store yesterday evening to pick up some groceries for her birthday dinner and on his way home he was attacked by two men with a knife. The attacker with the knife stabbed him in the stomach and pulled the knife up his abdomen, pulling out his colon and part of his intestines. By the Grace of God, Tyshawn staggered home holding his insides in his hands and made it to within sight of his house before he collapsed. Fortunately, Rebecca was on the front porch and heard him say, "Baby, I've been stabbed." before he collapsed. He coded 4 times between the ambulance and the emergency room, but thankfully the doctors and nurses were able to bring him back. He was in a coma all night, but just starting to wake up from it when I got there at 2:00 p.m. By 3:30 or so he was awake and they had removed the ventilator tube, so he was barely able to talk. His internal organs are back in place, but the wound it still open in case they need to go back in and fix anything. Obviously he's in a great deal of pain, which is hard to see.
Those of you who were clients of mine may remember Tyshawn, as he worked with me for a couple of seasons on ponds. If you know Tyshawn, you know he is one of the kindest, gentlest, most thoughtful, generous and hardworking young man you could ever hope to meet. He is the sole provider for his family and this horrible act of violence will keep him hospitalized for at least 15 days, and then his rehab starts. Obviously all of the muscles in his abdomen have been severed, so the recovery will be a long one.
I ask that you give what you can, in any amount, to help these two wonderful people make it through this frightening and uncertain time. If you can't give money, please say a prayer, send healing thoughts or good juju to Tyshawn and Rebecca.