The story is not my own but my cousin Lee’s. I just left visiting him in a nursing rehabilitation facility. He is paralyzed from being shot 5 times. He was driving and a car tried to run him off the road. He was able to drive off and then stopped at a traffic light where the same guy shot 8 bullets into his car. Lee leaned over to shield his dog from being shot. The shooter was a man he had worked for for five years.

Lee has had a life of ups and downs since he was 14 years old. He has lived paycheck to paycheck and has three dogs he loves dearly. He is a carpenter and very talented at his trade. It’s the only life he knew, the only one that existed for him. That’s all been taken away. Now he can no longer depend on this to support himself and he can no longer afford the dogs which he says are his only reason for living.

My cousin coded several times at the hospital. He asked they not bring him back but they did anyway. He was giving a 10% chance to live. After many surgeries he is doing as well as can be but still has two bullets in his body. He can’t use his left hand and they give him no hope of ever using his legs again. He has a colostomy bag that he’s had to learn to change for himself. He is paralyzed from the third vertebrae down.

My hope for him is to be able to raise enough money to help him be able to get out of the nursing facility and in a home that can be made handicapped accessible. He can’t get assistance to help until he is out of the facility. Hopefully this can happen before he loses his dogs he so dearly loves. I want him to have a reason to keep living past his 30’s.

Everyone has a past. No one is perfect. But no one should be forced to live this way! I want to help in anyway I can.

Thank you for your time and any donations you make will be greatly appreciated.