In 2018, my son Nicholas, 18, gave a girl a ride to a bonfire party. What he didn’t know is that she was setting him up to make her ex-boyfriend jealous. Soon after he arrived at the party, something didn’t feel right, and he got in his truck to leave. Five to seven men surrounded his truck, which got stuck in the mud. They fired several shots into the car, and Nick decided to exit the vehicle to try and save the other two people in his truck. He fought them off as they beat him with wooden bats, and he ran for his life. He was chased through the woods and shot in the back of the head. He managed to roll himself into a ditch, where they found him, shot him in the face and left him for dead. Nick was life-flighted to a major hospital and was in a coma for almost a month. He spent in total over 8 months hospitalized, learning how to eat, breathe, walk and talk all over again. Today Nicholas lives with a TBI, one working eye, one working arm and half his hearing. He is now working as an artist/activist.