A family has launched a fundraising campaign for their son, after a car crash left him almost totally paralysed.
Twenty-year-old Josh Gurvitz, a former JFS pupil, was a passenger in the car when it crashed on a road in Alabama on November 5.
Mr Gurvitz, who studies at the University of West Alabama and plays for the college football team, suffered a broken neck and a spinal cord injury.
He is paralysed from the chest down, according to family who have set up a Just Giving page to raise money to pay for rehabilitation treatment and adapt his home once he leaves hospital.
His uncle, Ray Gurvitz, said: “It doesn’t bear thinking about. His whole life is going to change.
“As a family we are devastated, he had his whole life ahead of him, he was fit and great at sport - he even played for his university and won awards.
“You wish you could swap places with him, you want to do whatever you can but we just feel helpless.”
Mr Gurvitz moved to the United States with his father, Phil, after his parents separated. His mother, Janine, remained in the UK.
His uncle said: “The distance between them makes it incredibly hard. His mum was on the first flight out there and his brothers are planning to go in the next few weeks.”
Fundraising for his nephew is the only way he felt he could help, he said, adding: “It is too early to say what Josh is going to need.
“In England we have the NHS, in the USA it is all private everything needs to be paid for the system is different.
“It is all we can think to do, people in America and in the UK are doing whatever they can, hosting coffee mornings, football matches, cake sales, marathons you name it.”
The appeal has so far raised £1,400.
Amy Windley, a friend of Mr Gurvitz at the university, has set up a GoFundMe account to help him and his family.
Speaking to Gulf Coast News Today, she said: “Josh is facing a big enough battle himself. But once he is able to move to a rehab facility, Phil and the rest will be dealing with a lot of additional expenses.
“Joshy is loved by so many people all over this country and in England.
“We are raising money to help with all of the expense he and his family will incur during the healing and recovery process.”
To find out more about the UK appeal:
https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/JoshGurvitz
