Saturday, July 31, 2010

Stefan Lewis Eye Recovery Fund

This is the link to a post on Rob Nixon's Waiting for the Next Swell blog post.

If you have ever met Stefan Lewis, you know that the 24 year old surfer is outgoing, talkative, friendly and an extremely talented local surfer. Stefan is also a member of the South Padre Island Beach Patrol and gives his time to help those that are in trouble or have been injured on our city beaches.

A couple of weeks back Stefan severely injured himself while surfing at Packery Channel in Corpus Christi. He was hit with his surfboard and his nose, left side cheek and left ocular orbit were all broken. The real injury here is to his orbit where he has essentially blown out the back of it which holds his eyeball in place.

Stefan has been to multiple eye experts since his injury and has been told that if his orbit is not reconstructed soon his eye will begin to sink into the back of the socket and he will very probably see double the rest of his life. For anyone, this would be devastating, but for someone who enjoys the beach and a sport that relies so much on sight at such a young age, it is especially depressing.

Stefan's surgery to repair his eye is scheduled for August 4th and he needs to raise approximately $7000 for the deposit before the doctors will operate. Stefan does not have insurance.

In an effort to help him out a group of his friends and the South Padre Island Surfing community are trying to help him by raising as much money as possible by the 4th!

Stefan's girlfriend and Mom have set up a Pay Pal account to take these donations! You can also stop by Island Native Surf House and leave a donation as well! Any amount that you can give will help immensely in helping Stefan recover from this injury!

OR you can CLICK HERE to also donate to the Stefan Lewis Eye Recovery Fund.

Thank you!
We will also be happy to pass any donations on to the family and have sent a donation via paypal. It is easy and safe. My guess is that even after the deposit is covered this young man will need additional funds to cover the remainder of the surgical costs in addition to the follow-up and other expenses.