Support Tony Choe

If you were in need, Anthony “Tony” Choe would be the first one to help.

And he’d go big…big as his boundless heart.

He’d come in strong, spread the word, and see you all the way home safe.

Since May 2022, Tony has had multiple strokes and infections.

It is bad. Very bad.

But there’s a lot of love in this world for Anthony Choe.

With the permission of his wife, Eunju, and with their daughter in our hearts,

please join us in supporting Tony’s medical needs and his family.

(Scroll down for more information about the situation)

HOW MUCH SHOULD I GIVE?

Give what you can and then pause…

…think about what you would want your friends to do for your family, and then give more.

That’s all we can suggest. This is the greatest crisis a family can face.

And if you’re a friend of a friend, just know that Tony is someone you would want in your corner, someone who gives his all and deserves all the support you can muster.

Tony’s always been a force for goodness, kindness and generosity: the wheel needs to turn in his direction…right now.

ABOUT TONY

If you’re here because a friend of Tony’s sent you the link, then you probably want to know a bit more about Tony. And everybody has been asking “what happened” and we’ll tell you here so that Tony’s wife doesn’t have to:

Tony is a hardworking family man with a heart full of love and generosity. He’s spent years mentoring students and volunteering at legal clinics. He’s worked to improve healthcare for others across the nation. He never backs down from a fight to help others. Now he’s the one fighting for his life.

Tony has more than touched lives, he’s enriched them. Ask anyone who knows him from West High School in Torrance. Ask his pals from Dartmouth (especially the Dodecaphonics from 1995 – yes, Tony sings a capella).

Whether you met him in grad school at Columbia or law school at Pittsburgh, you became part of the Anthony Choe world – a better world, where friends are for life and they stand up for each other, with Tony leading by example.

And if you are a friend of a friend, know that if the roles were reversed, Tony would step up for you.

(And this GOFUNDME is how you can best help him, his wife Eunju and their daughter at this terrible time.)

TONY SUFFERS STROKE #1

Tony suffered the first of his ischemic strokes on May 28, 2022, which left him paralyzed on the right side of his body.

Eunju took on everything, his care, the finances, everything. She even cut his hair herself. Tony didn’t want to alarm folks and kept things very private, keeping fear and hope alike in the shadows.

Tony was moved to rehab and prepared for a long (private) recovery.

THE SECOND STROKE

Hope was shattered just over a week later, when a second stroke hammered Tony, paralyzing the left side of his body.

Now basically locked in his body, Tony could only blink to communicate.

If you know Tony’s smile and his amazing laugh, that fills a room, you know how hard this was for him, for Eunju, and for their child, for everyone.

At that point, his organs began to fail, starting with his kidneys. He lost consciousness again.

Many of us believed this was the end.

BLINK - COVID

Amazingly, Tony opened his eyes again, but was touch and go. One minute, he could blink “yes” or “no”; the next, he was just…not there.

And then Covid hit him and we thought it was the last straw. But he’s just too tough.

Tony is completely paralyzed and there is extensive damage throughout his body. When the brain takes that much punishment, everything else breaks down, too.

He’s woken up again, but now he’s in a loop of infection, procedure and back to infection. Tony can just barely use his eyes again to communicate “yes” or “no”, and he listens and understands friends on a weekly ZOOM suggested by his medical team to keep his brain stimulated.

WHY NOW and WHY GOFUNDME?

We didn’t surgarcoat anything here; it is heartbreaking to watch as Tony’s fight continues.

Tony and Eunju have kept this struggle as private as they could, but all their friends want to help. There are a million different ways to show our love and support, but this is the best way to give Eunju maximum flexibility to take care of the family with the minimum amount of distraction from caring for her husband and their daughter.

We chose GoFundMe as the best way to reach the broadest number of Tony’s friends and their friends. The nominal fee was greatly outweighed by the reach, convenience, and the fact that, this way, only Eunju has access to the money, not us.

Thank you!

Nicole (Arnn) Lloreda, Jennifer (Chin) Yen, and Gavin Hachiya Wasserman

West Torrance High School Class of 1991