Igor Petreski
South-Central Spinal Cord Injury Fund
Austin, TX
Dear Family and Friends,
I am writing to you on behalf of Igor Petreski. Igor is a 20 year-old college student from Macedonia who is in Austin, Texas as part of an international summer work and travel program. A few days after arriving in Austin, Igor suffered a broken neck and severe spinal cord injury while training to be a lifeguard. He has no feeling from his mid-chest on down. This paralysis will be permanent, and Igor now faces months of rehabilitation.
Igor’s mother and father, Sonja and Zvonko, rushed to Austin to be with Igor and left their home and jobs in Macedonia for the foreseeable future. This is a very difficult and traumatic time for the family, complicated by the fact that Igor is so far from home. There are no rehabilitation facilities in Macedonia in fact there is no hospital in his hometown, no sidewalks, no elevators, no paved roads. The Petreski’s fear that their only son would be sent to an institution if he returned home to Macedonia in a wheelchair. They are desperate for him to remain in the USA and receive whatever rehab is available and ultimately wish they could all remain here together. Sonja and Zvonko now face months of negotiations with immigration authorities to get work visas.
Igor, Sonja, and Zvonko need funds for rehabilitation therapy, specialized equipment, a modified van and an accessible home. The cost of these uninsured injury-related items will be substantial --- a financial burden the family cannot meet on their own.
To assist with these expenses, a fundraising campaign In Igor’s honor has been established with the Catastrophic Injury Program of NTAF. NTAF is a nonprofit organization that has been serving the transplant and catastrophic injury community for more than 26 years. All contributions are tax-deductible and are administered for injury-related expenses only.
Make checks payable to:
NTAF South-Central Spinal Cord Injury Fund
Note in memo section:
In honor of Igor Petreski
Please mail to:
NTAF
150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120
Radnor, PA 19087
For credit card contributions:
Call 800-642-8399 or select the CONTRIBUTE NOW button.
To email this page directly to others in your community, who might wish to learn about this campaign, click the EMAIL TO FRIENDS button and type in as many email addresses as you wish.
Igor, Sonja, and Zvonko are wonderful people and have made many friends in their short stay in Austin. Some of these friends are planning a fundraising event in the fall. We could certainly use your time, energy, and ideas. Please contact me at bobbatlan@hotmail.com to volunteer. Thanks so much for any help that you can give to this great family!
Sincerely,
Bob Batlan
512-796-1533
