‘Super tough’ Douglas student faces long road to recovery
15-year-old was shot five times while keeping classmates safe from rampaging gunman
Anthony Borges is a tough, wellconditioned student athlete who is defying the odds.
During the shooting last month at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, the 15-year-old used his body to block a classroom door, saving the lives of numerous students. Shot five times, he was among the most seriously wounded of the survivors of the Feb. 14 rampage that killed 17 students and faculty.
Borges had surgery Wednesday night and Thursday morning, and his condition is now considered stable, his family’s attorney told the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
“He’s doing OK now,” the lawyer, Alex Arreaza, said Thursday afternoon. “This kid is an athlete, and he’s obviously in very good shape. He has grit and is super tough — and that’s what it takes. He’s defied all odds, and he continues to do so.”
Doctors detected a possible abdominal infection and an ulcer in his small intestine from the impact of one of the bullets, his father, Royer Borges, wrote on Facebook.
“So they decided to intervene and
The ordeal comes less than three years after the teenager came to South Florida from Ciudad Ojeda, in the northwest part of Venezuela.
cut that section of the small intestine so that my son’s life wasn’t further compromised,” he wrote. “They will make three or four more trips to the operating room during these coming days. They want to make sure they clean well and that all his organs are out of danger. I thank you all for your support and please do not stop praying for him and my family.”
Jennifer Smith, spokeswoman for Broward Health, did not address his status by name Thursday, but confirmed that the remaining school shooting victim at Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale has been returned to the intensive care unit.
The ordeal comes less than three years after the teenager emigrated from Venezuela to South Florida. According to his Facebook account, he arrived in Miami from Ciudad Ojeda, which is located in the oil and gas region of Lake Maracaibo in the northwest of the country.
After moving to Broward County, he played soccer at the Barca Academy in Fort Lauderdale, one of many youth programs operated by the powerhouse Futbol Club Barcelona in Spain. Notified by a journalist of Anthony Borges’ fate, the team’s top players signed a club jersey and sent it to him, according to the Associated Press.
A story on the team’s site, fcbarcelona.com, quoted his father as being grateful for the gesture: “He never expected Barca to do this. Neither did I. When he was about to go in for surgery, by chance I heard the voicemail, because I couldn’t receive calls, and put the phone on loudspeaker so he could hear the message. He was smiling so much!”
Anthony Borges reportedly told his father he had to get out of the hospital because he wanted to go to Barcelona.
“Anthony wanted to get up and go to Spain,” the father’s quote continues. “That’s always been a dream for him. When we arrived here, we had nothing, we started from scratch. But we were able to put our boy where he wanted to be. He wanted to play for Barca, and it was one of the greatest joys for my wife and I to see him doing that.”
His family was the first to announce its intent to file a lawsuit against Broward County officials stemming from the tragedy.
Although a GoFundMe campaign for Anthony Borges has generated more than $620,000, that money is earmarked for medical expenses and can’t be used for other purposes, a spokeswoman for the family said.
After recently learning that the Borges family was having difficulty with housing and living expenses, Sergio Villada, a caseworker with Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, contacted No More Tears, a Broward Countybased nonprofit organization that helps victims of domestic, sexual and physical violence. Somy Ali, founder of No More Tears, said pleas were posted on the organization’s Facebook page seeking help.
“I was surprised that it raised $1,250 in two days,” she said.
But more is needed, and Ali expects to continue soliciting money for the family through the end of March and possibly into April, she said.
With Anthony unable to manage the stairs to his family’s fourth-floor apartment, it was clear the family needed a home on a ground floor, Ali said. “No More Tears is paying for first, last and security deposit for the family to move into a house,” she said. In addition, the organization provided $1,250 for food and other needs, she said.
According to the organization’s Facebook post, Anthony’s parents have been unable to work since the shooting and have been unable to find economic assistance through other victims’ funds.
No More Tears is accepting donations through its website at nomoretearsusa.org/donate.
Donors using PayPal should type “Parkland Survivor” in the notes section of their submission to ensure the contribution is routed to the family, the Facebook post said.