The Ewok Strikes Back

Hello everyone!

As you may have noticed, Tomas has not been very public in the last five months. He posted messages on social media on March 3, 2023, to explain what has been going on, and to dissipate myths and gossip. On the morning of October 6th Tomas was starting his day in the same way that he has since he bought his little house on S. Central Park in 2016. He was finishing his workout in the garage and was getting ready to go inside and start work at the RJ court. As he exited the garage and was walking towards the house, he was shot five times by one of his next-door neighbors. He sustained three gunshots in his abdomen and two in his left arm. Tomas wants to stress that there was no previous conflict and only a few prior interactions. Only one of them is a non-pleasant; when you live in the hood you do not intrude on another person's lifestyle.

As a result of the shooting, Tomas was in the S-ICU at Mt. Sinai Hospital in Chicago, IL in a coma for 23 days. His survival defied all expectations as the surgeon said when they were taking him into emergency surgery, “We will try, but it doesn’t look good”. Initially, the medical damage to Tomas was the loss of a kidney and severe colon damage. After the S-ICU he was transferred to a surgical stepdown unit at Mt. Sinai for another week. On November 4th, Tomas was transferred to an inpatient medical rehabilitation center (Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Chicago, IL). He was engaged in multiple rehabilitation services including occupational, physical and speech therapies. Unfortunately, that road was not smooth and along the way he needed to be hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital three additional times due to complications including concerns for his cardiac care, issues with his breathing due to being intubated and having a temporary tracheotomy, in addition to finding three 9mm hollow point bullet fragments that were not seen previously due to the internal swelling of Tomas organs. Two of those fragments were removed, but one will stay with Tomas as an intrusive reminder of his surviving unprovoked gun violence.

Tomas was discharged from inpatient rehab on December 23, 2022. Although he was still very weak and needed 24-hour attention from our loving family and friends he began his outpatient rehab journey at Shirley Ryan AbilityLab outpatient services. Tomas was also connected to a trauma therapist who is helping with his emotional and psychic devastation. At a surgical follow-up appointment, the surgeon who performed his initial emergency surgery walked in and said, “Good to see you, medically you really shouldn’t be here.” The surgeon told us at that time it would be 12-18 months for Tomas to “heal”. We all really thought that meant getting his strength back and being back out in the world kicking restorative justice, peace-conflict studies, and community engagement in the butt, just like old times.

Unfortunately, that is not the case and now we have a better understanding of what it means to “heal” medically from such a traumatic injury. On January 24, 2023, Tomas went back to the NM emergency department for what seemed like sudden onset of random unrelated symptoms. Tomas was admitted back into NM immediately as his symptoms all ended up linking to his liver and gallbladder becoming infected which were causing additional life-threatening symptoms. Then, on January 30, 2023, Tomas was transferred to the NM ICU due to his one remaining kidney shutting down which was complicated by his developing pancreatitis as well. Tomas remained in the ICU for another week while he was on continuous dialysis and being treated with multiple antibiotics and other meds to address the degree of internal rebellion that his body was staging against him. After five weeks, we now know that a healing the body internally is in addition to healing the mind and spirit. We know Tomas is healing through all the love and support you have shown him and our family.

Tomas’ pancreatitis and gallbladder symptoms have resolved for now, but his kidney is still on high alert. Before his discharge, the nephrologist looked at Tomas’ abdomen and told the remaining kidney, “Just remember you can be replaced”. On March 1, 2023, Tomas was given the green light and discharged, once again to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab for inpatient rehab. Along with the theme of healing as a journey, Tomas still has at least three surgeries to finish putting him back together again.

Here is the ask: Tomas has not worked since October 5, 2022. Thankfully, he has had insurance and we are hoping for some funds through the Illinois Victim’s Compensation Funds to cover some expenses, but we know that in the end, that will not be enough to sustain Tomas until his body, mind and spirit are ready to explore and define the next part of his professional and academic journey. Many of you have reached out and asked about ways to support Tomas through financial contributions. He is humbled and grateful for your patience as he worked on defining the best way to create a donation page that honors everyone, those who can help with financial support and those whose support has and will come in other spirit-sustaining ways through prayers, food, and attention to our family.

In honor of Tomas – our feisty Ewok warrior who will not be brought down or held back by bullets.

GoFundMe is very concerned with fraud. They have specifically asked that I identify myself and how the funds we are raising will be used. Some of you know me already. For those of you who do not; my name is Michele and I am Tomas' sister. We are asking for financial support for Tomas to be used for medical and living expenses.