Help a Hero who Saved His Sister’s Life
Today, I don’t have any pretty pictures or fun products to share with you. Instead, I have a plea — a thoroughly heartfelt plea — to help a brother who saved his sister’s life from the most brutal stabbing the presiding judge had ever seen and nearly lost his own in the process.
The judge himself called it “Upsetting to the human race in general,” and after rereading the account again, upsetting doesn’t even begin to describe it.
On the night of May 6, 2011, Kelly O’Keefe’s ex-boyfriend broke into her home and stabbed her eight times in the head in addition to beating her. Hearing her screams, Danny, her younger brother, rushed to her aid. Danny was stabbed 19 times in the head, his right arm was mutilated and his spleen was lacerated.
The man who attacked Kelly and Danny had been trained in martial arts and brought a skull crusher with him.
The scene was so horrific the police and EMTs told Kathy Okeefe, Danny and Kelly’s mom, it was the worst crime scene they’d ever seen. But perhaps the most heartbreaking — and simultaneously miraculous — part of the story is they laid in puddles of their own blood for 6 to 8 hours before they were found by their father and brother thanks to Kelly’s dog who barked for 6 hours straight, waking Kelly up enough to call her mom.
The judge stated, “There was a higher power, namely God, that saved their lives.”
And I believe him.
It is truly a miracle they are alive. Unfortunately, while Danny’s alive, he’s not in good shape. His injures caused him to have aphasia, a condition that makes it hard for him to talk, read or write. He can no longer use his right arm, and he walks with a limp, which is impossible for me to imagine.
I knew Danny all through high school, and spent many nights hanging out at his house listening to he and his band jam. He was your typical teenager — cocky yet sweet underneath — and he was always smiling. He went on to graduate from law school and was on his way to becoming a criminal defense lawyer.
Instead he has become a hero, and he desperately needs our help. His family can’t afford all of the therapies he needs to recover. They must raise $27,000 to cover the costs.
If we can get 27,000 people to donate $1 dollar, we’ll give Danny his life back. So please, pass this on to all of your friends. Like the Support the O’Keefe Family on Facebook. And if you can, donate a dollar — or more.
If you’d like to learn more about the incident, read Danny’s mother’s account of it. The tale is heartbreaking, and I’ve been walking around like a zombie ever since reading it.
Thank you. Sincerely, thank you for any help you can offer.
