Justin's road to healing

Our 22-year-old son, brother, college classmate, friend, and co-worker had his life severely interrupted and changed forever in the early morning hours of Wednesday, August 17th. Justin was the victim of a carjacking gone wrong. He had just gotten home from work and decided to go grab a bite to eat. Three men approached him in his apartment complex's parking lot, demanding his keys and immediately shooting him in the leg.

Justin was able to call 911 to get assistance. The police officer that arrived was able to apply a tourniquet and assist in getting him to the hospital. Had the officer not arrived as quickly as they did, we would be planning a funeral for Justin.

At the hospital, Justin received a lot of blood products as the bullet went through his leg and severed the femoral artery and femoral vein, severely damaging his sciatic and femoral nerve and others and breaking his femur. The artery was repaired via bypass surgery; his bone was initially fixated externally until they could operate to insert a rod and screws. He was on a ventilator for about 12 hours as well. He will have a long road to recovery, and we are reaching out to nerve specialists to determine the extent of the damage to his nerve, but the prognosis of the function of his right leg is uncertain right now.

We are thankful that Justin’s life was spared and appreciate the overwhelming support and prayers we have received in the last week. After a little over a week in the hospital (ICU and Surgical care) Justin will come home tomorrow on August 25th, and begin in-home therapy and care. However, he will be unable to work for the foreseeable future, and his senior year of college has been put on hold as he recovers.

We’ve created this GoFundMe to assist Justin in covering expenses he’s already incurred and will incur in the coming months and years. Things such as his rent, medical care not covered by insurance, home medical supplies, repairs to his car, and adjustments that will need to be made to his home environment to accommodate him during recovery. We thank you for supporting Justin; it’s greatly appreciated.