Tony's Medical Fund

A hooded man down the street is crouching along someone's front gate. I see the flash and hear the shot. A single shot. You think these types of things happen only in movies and can't possibly be real. I'm here to tell you they are. 

For those of you that don't know, Tony was shot on Friday night. After an evening out with a visiting friend staying with us for the night we were dropped off by our Uber driver on the corner of our street.  Walking home, literally steps from our apartment a hooded figure at the end of our dead end street came into view. He crouched along the line of front gates on West Shakespeare Street and took one shot. The gunman ran off and after we froze for seconds of shock, we had realized what had just happened. We started to run and that's when Tony fell, and realized he was hit. We were able to drag him in between two parked vans in the street where we hid and called 911.  

After two separate trips to the ER and one Orthopedic doctor visit Tony is in good shape. We couldn't have been more lucky. After speaking with police and a detective we believe the shooting was some type of gang initiation. Tony was hit in the leg where the bullet still resides in his tibia. 

Another "I can't believe it" moment about this whole situation is Tony is currently uninsured. He started an awesome full time job a few months ago and had literally turned in the paperwork for insurance earlier that day, after his 90 day trial period with the company. Tony (and as much as I can) are currently paying everything out of pocket until the insurance is able to cover the costs. Even though he will be insured come the new year, he will still be paying out of pocket until he returns to work. 

We're both not used to asking for help, especially when it comes down to money. We've gone through all the stages from shock to sadness and now onto anger. We're good kids. We work hard because we both have big plans for ourselves, career-wise and on personal levels. This shouldn't have happened to Tony. 

We're asking for some help to cover his medical costs. After two visits to the ER and a $500 visit to an Orthopedic specialist we both can't afford to pay out of pocket much longer. He'll need help paying for additional doctor visits, for X-rays, MRIs, for the costs of prescriptions and everything in between. Again, we are both extremely lucky and grateful that this didn't end worse. We know how many great people we surround ourselves with and can't wait to shake this off and get Tony back up on his feet again for cooking, snowboarding, 5ks, mud runs and of course concerts and music festivals. 

Not everyone is in a situation to donate and that is totally understood. But please hug your loved ones and let them know every single day how much they mean to you. Life is so precious and we understand that more than ever now with the sound of a single gunshot.