WYOMING, Mich. (March 27, 2014)—A young man is left fighting for his life and now his community is rallying around him.
Osman Koroma, 24, is in an induced coma still in intensive care after being hit by a car last week in Wyoming.
Koroma is blind and his guide dog Gala was killed in the incident. ‘Ozzie’ as his friends call him is a graduate of Hastings High School, FOX 17 actually caught up with him a few years ago during a story about his wrestling career there.
Despite being blind, he’s proved he can beat the odds time and time again and now those who know him say they hope he can do it yet again.
Koroma’s story started back in Liberia; he was born in the middle of the country’s deadly civil war.
His family ended up at a refugee camp where Koroma came down with an eye infection, he already had cataracts in both eyes and lost his sight.
His family eventually made it to the US and despite the hardships and pain he endured his accomplishments are astounding.
Gwen Botting, Executive Director of ‘Opportunities Unlimited for the Blind’ met Ozzie when he was 15 as camper there but he quickly worked his way up.
“I hired him to be our head male counselor, then the next year assistant camp director and now media specialist. He created our website.”
Botting says Ozzie was on his way home after getting dropped off by a bus last Wednesday near S. Division Ave and 56th Street. She says he was wearing dark colored clothes when he got hit and his beloved guide dog Gala was killed.
Now Botting is working to keep the organization going without him. “I might be the brains of the operation but hes like the heart and soul. I make things happen, hes the one who inspires people to do it,” she said.
There is actually an event Ozzie helped plan for the kids at the camp next weekend, April 5. Botting says they will still hold the event and do it honor of Ozzie and Gala.
For more information on that and how you can help: http://www.oubmichigan.org/
