As many of you are aware, our good friend Ryan Arnold was viciously jumped and stabbed in Downtown San Diego while he was out enjoying Superbowl Sunday.  After being rushed to the nearest trauma facility at UCSD Hospital in Hillcrest Ryan was taken into emergency surgery with only a 30% chance of survival.  He lost a lot of blood in addition to his colon being lacerated, large intestine, stomach and vital organs all needing to be repaired as the knife penetrated him on the left side of his abdomen.  The incision for the Surgical Team to address all injuries stretches from his sternum down to his pelvic bone and he also has a large open wound where the knife penetrated his abdomen.  

Ryan spent the following 7 days in UCSD’s ICU Department, and it was a bumpy road with even more complications along the way and with his life still on the line but luckily, he pulled through!!  Ryan now has a huge uphill battle to reach full recovery.  His doctors have him out of work for the next 3 – 6 months in order to rest and recover and he is being faced with all these unplanned and extra expenses; just to name a few of all expenses he’s being faced with such as the wound care supplies , prescription drugs, follow-up doctor’s appointments, home healthcare treatment, physical therapy treatment and working with a Psychiatrist for the PTSD that was caused by this horrific and traumatic event.

As most of you know, Ryan has always prided himself on being a good, caring and generous person who would take the shirt off his back for a friend or even a stranger in need.  He is a very dedicated employee who works hard each day to do his part in this world personally and professionally.  He is now being faced with over $250K in medical bills and many other unexpected costs while his income will be slashed by more than half of what he normally brings home since most of his income is commissioned based; disability pay only pays 60% of his base salary and that will barely cover just his basic living necessities such as rent, food and personal items. 

I’m sure you can only imagine the severe stress this has him going through being faced with all these medical expenses and then not being able to work and make the money to pay for the expenses so he is able to fully recover and get back to work.  Ryan has been so distraught over the financial nightmare this has created that he is not able to focus on resting and recovery and his biggest fear is that he is going to lose his home (rental) and not have a stable environment to recover in.

In addition, most of these medical expenses for Ryan to reach full recovery will need to be paid up front and out of his pocket as he does not have insurance that covers these needed services.  Let's all rally to help ease the pain our great friend is experiencing, both physically and emotionally.  We're asking for anything you can contribute to ease the financial stress created by this traumatic life changing event he has been through.   Any contribution, $5, $10, $15 or $20 or whatever you can afford would be more than greatly appreciated.  As I stated earlier, we all know that he’d do the same for you.  Let’s all pull together and help where we can to ease some of this pain and suffering he has been through and will be for quite some time.

If you're not able to contribute, we completely understand, and humbly ask that you share this with your friends, network and community. Ryan has stated that he would gladly pay any of you back once he's back on his feet and working again. We sincerely thank you for taking the time to read this and considering contributing to a good friend who would give you the shirt off his back.