Rally For Tyler: Help Him Rebuild After Car Crash

I want to tell you the story of my Nephew Tyler. He's 17 and a Senior at Southern High School in Guam. Tyler is very humble, extremely intelligent and very athletic. He took care of his grandmother while living with his single mother in Agat. His mom struggled to make ends meet so Tyler took the initiative to make money to pay for things he needed for school and sports. He made musubi, scones, and cookies and sold them at school. He also got a part time job at Pop's Bakery and Subway and just started at Marina Grill at the Agat Marina.

He also did yardwork and other manual labor to earn money. He also managed to get his driver's license on his own. He used to walk to practice from Agat to Southern High. I bought him a bike and he used that until he managed to save enough money to buy a Guam Bomb car for $2,000.00. The car though, needed work most especially he needed to have the struts replaced. I offered to have it done for him but he refused. I watched him over the years as he matured into the young man he became. I went to Guam AutoSpot and explored getting him a new car and even got approved for it. It was gonna be about $180 a payday, which he would be responsible for. He ultimately declined because he was afraid he would be short when school started because he would have to cut back on work.

Unfortunately, on Sunday, October 27, 2024 around 3 p.m. he was driving his Guam Bomb to go volunteer with his Football Team to clean up a gym, when on Route 2A he ran off the road, hit the guardrail and collided with a telephone pole. The car flipped and he may have been ejected, but he cannot recall. By the Grace of God, no other car was involved and he had no passengers in his car with him. He didn't have any broken bones but he suffered a huge and deep laceration on his right thigh and on his forehead. He got stitches and was discharged from the hospital after a couple of hours. Poor kid, worked so hard and didn't want any help and in a split second his world was turned upside down, literally. His medical bills are not covered because medicaid does not cover vehicle accidents. The lucky thing is that he walked away with life, limbs, and eyesight. Everything else is just material things. Cars can be replaced, money can be earned. When I rode with Tyler in the ambulance all he was concerned with is how badly this is gonna effect his precarious financial situation, working so hard and barely making ends meet. I told him, we all stumble in life, but the important thing that really matters, is how we get back up and move forward. Some people don't get back up and they invite you to their pity party.

Tyler is a genuinely very good kid but life can sometimes throw us a curve ball. We are not asking for pity, Tyler has stood up on his own and has forged his way early in life. I ask the community to rally around this great kid and show him that when we stumble, our collective family will be there to prop us up. All his hard work and effort got wiped out in a split second. Tyler did nothing wrong, he was not out causing trouble or just joyriding, he was going to do good things for others. Let's pay it forward by paying back to him. God is Great. God Bless Tyler and everyone, always.