Here’s How You Can Help With The Oregon Shooting Hero’s Medical Bills

A funding campaign has been started to help raise money for the medical bills of Chris Mintz, the heroic 30-year-old Army veteran who was shot five times while defending classmates during the tragic shooting at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, OR. The shooting left 10 people dead and several injured earlier this week. After spending a decade in the Army, Mintz was in the middle of the first week of his second year of community college classes when a gunman, later identified as 26-year-old Chris Harper Mercer, opened fire on campus. While trying to hold the door closed and block the gunman from entering his classroom, Mintz was shot repeatedly and reportedly cried, "It’s my son’s birthday. It’s my son’s birthday," after he was wounded. (He is the father of a 6-year-old named Tyrik.) Mintz, who is studying to become a personal trainer, subsequently underwent surgery and will need to relearn to walk. "We're just so thankful he's alive; none of the bullets hit any major organs," his aunt, Wanda Kay Mintz, told People. "Both his legs were hit and broken. He was shot in the stomach, the back, and his hand. One bullet traveled down his spine and became lodged in his hip. The doctors are just going to leave it there." But as anyone who has had to deal with major medical issues in the past is sure to know, his recovery will not come cheap. So his cousin, Derek Bourgeois, took to the internet, creating a GoFundMe campaign to help finance his treatment. After just five hours, the altruistic effort had raised more than $200,000 from at least 5,770 people across the nation, reports Oregon Live. At the time of this article's publication, the campaign has reached an impressive — and well-deserved — total of $646,325. Mintz, who is currently recovering in the hospital from surgery, took to social media earlier today for the first time since the attacks to wish others well, posting, "Hope the others injured and their families are doing well, goodnight for me," to Facebook. He has since added a message concerning the amazing success of the GoFundMe campaign, writing, "I didn't ask for the gofundme, or the publicity I was only doing what I thought was right." And that, my friends, is exactly why he is so deserving of this kind of generous outpouring. In the midst of unspeakable tragedy, heroes like Mintz should not be ignored. They should be cared for.