Former US congressman Michael Grimm has been paralysed from the chest down after being thrown from a horse throughout a polo match.
His buddy and former New York Metropolis council member, Vincent Ignizio, informed the Related Press the “tragic accident” occurred in September, and that he was at the moment receiving therapy.
Ignizio has additionally arrange a fundraising web page to pay for the New York Republican’s medical therapy.
A former marine and FBI agent, Grimm, 54, represented Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn within the Home of Representatives, however resigned months earlier than being convicted of tax evasion in 2015.
“By the grace of God and the superb medical groups who’ve helped him, Mr Grimm has miraculously thread the needle to outlive,” his fundraising web page mentioned, including that the therapy to allow him to stroll once more would value “hundreds of thousands of {dollars}”.
Ignizio mentioned his buddy was being handled on the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey, the place the late actor Christopher Reeve stayed after the same accident in 1995, the Related Press reported.
“His final aim is to get himself to stroll once more,” Ignizio added.
On Monday, New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams mentioned his “ideas and prayers” had been with Grimm and that he was “deeply saddened” by the accident.
“Grimm is a Marine veteran, and as we honour our nation’s service members this Veteran’s Day, I hope for a full and speedy restoration,” he wrote on X.
Grimm was first elected to the Home in 2010.
After a two-year federal investigation into his funds, he was charged in 2014, and the next yr sentenced to eight months in jail.
Prosecutors on the time mentioned he under-reported wages and income in order to keep away from payroll, earnings and gross sales taxes.