Help ‘Superman’ Recover from Violent Attack

I’m calling my husband ‘Superman’ because he not only survived random, unprovoked attempted murder, but came home from hospital with an amazing attitude of gratitude for it not happening to one of the many others in our neighborhood who walk and stroll the same street daily. It also happens to be that our wedding rings are Superman rings, but that’s another story.

May 5, 2024, he was walking our dog in the early morning hours (like he’s walked them all for over 25 years in the same area) and was about to head home. He was viciously stalked and attacked by two people. After knocking him to the ground, the female attacker stabbed him in the back and arms at least 20 times. At some point, she stabbed his abdomen from the front at least 5 times. The stab counts are from wounds and holes in his shirt. Simultaneously, the male attacker was hitting him with a machete to the face and head. He felt a blade in his mouth and bit down to keep it from slicing. That caused damage to 5 teeth. He was kicked and punched and beaten. We are so thankful a home owner witnessed enough of the event to yell, “what’s going on out there,” and call 911. The female yelled, “come on, come on, you’re taking too long, the cops are coming,” and they ran off. My husband managed to call 911 as well. During the attack, our dog backed out of her collar and escaped unharmed. He called me at home from the scene. He told me he’d been attacked and that the police said they had our dog and would bring her home. EMS asked me to convince him to go to the hospital as he refused until he knew our dog was home safe. Even in a horrendous event, he was trying to protect his dog and openly worried about the stress for me over the phone.

It is a miracle he survived. He had 25 staples, at least 12 stitches on his back, and several in his upper lip. The dried blood and scabbing makes them hard to count. He has a large hematoma on his back. I don’t have the medical report at the time of writing this. I’m not sure if my asking goal amount is high or low and will adjust as bills come in. I am humbly asking for the miracle of giving. This is not easy. We have both worked our whole lives, paid our own way, paid our taxes, been good citizens, and given to others when we could. We are embarrassed to ask, but I don’t know what else to do. We don’t have benefits or any private health insurance. Not all his care and procedures will be covered by ‘universal health care’ (for example the dental). He certainly won’t be working anytime soon. We took a huge financial hit losing our company, work and income of over 21 years due to the pandemic. My new job is at a much lower wage than 2020 and already can not cover food, housing, utilities and transportation on it’s own. My vehicle needs repair we can’t afford but I need to get to work. It’s all overwhelming and become more than we can recover from in a reasonable amount of time.

If you can help, thank you, thank you, thank you. Please do not donate a dime you can’t truly afford to give. We don’t want anyone shorting themselves to help. Prayers and warm empathy are welcome. He will recover and does have a positive outlook. He says he is glad it was him and not an elderly neighbor, child, or someone headed to their vehicle for work whom might not have survived. I am amazed by his spirit.

With sincere appreciation,

Michelle *note: As police were unable to apprehend the suspects, he was admitted to hospital as confidential. Because the assailants have yet to be caught and brought to justice, we are also being careful with identification.