I just heard a horrific story about a friend of mine traveling on the island of St. Maarten and is currently recovering from the attack in a Miami hospital. Here’s the details:
JL was walking with two family friends down a relatively dark street when they were all approached out of the shadows by three armed men. The men quickly demanded all their money. As JL was going through his pockets to oblige, one of the men pistol whipped him on top of the head with his glock. The impact of the gun broke his skull, and shattered pieces of his skull into his brain cavity.
With the other two men holding guard on JL’s other friends, there wasn’t much they could to to assist while they were robbed. JL was carried to the local hospital in St. Maarten; unfortunately these island hospitals don’t regularly staff neurosurgeons. His family was notified and they gathered what money they could on short notice to charter a private (low level) flight direct to Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital. While there, he underwent brain surgery to remove the shards of skull from his brain tissue.
Fortunately they acted quickly and the operation was a success! As a result of the attack, JL does suffer from neural damage which has paralyzed his right hand, however, with days of therapy we’re hoping that he will regain full use of it in the near future. Unfortunately, this isn’t guaranteed and is more hopeful than anything else. He is is good spirits, and we all made sure to keep conversations light and friendly to keep him from stressing about his situation.
If this casualty wasn’t enough, he now has to deal with the American Health Care system. As a student and massage therapist he’s unable to work without his dominant hand. With the limited health insurance he does have, his out-of-pocket medical bills have already run over $20,000, not including the immediate travel expenses endured.
JL’s family and friends have put together a donation site to help him with the looming medical bills and living expenses, while he concentrates on therapy and recover. Feel free to contact me if you’d like to help donate; it’s much appreciated.
Being confronted in an alley by armed men in your own town or even in America is frightening enough, but in another country, with lacking care and facilities, it could have been down right deadly. We are all fortunate that his friend and family acted quickly and pulled together to get JL to safety and he’s well on his way to recovery. JL: Recover Fast and Well my friend