Fundraiser benefits bicyclist struck by mini-van.
Friends of the bicyclist who was struck by a vehicle while biking through Limerick Township last week say the father of two suffered traumatic brain injury and is facing a long and expensive recovery. They’ve started an online campaign to help him out and have already raised $3,000.
Now they’re turning to the community for support in reaching their goal of $20,000 to help the family cover some of the anticipated medical bills.
Ed Eddinger was riding his bicycle along the 400 block of West Ridge Pike in Limerick just before 7 a.m. Nov. 8 when he collided with amini-van. Authorities found the 32-year-old lying unconscious on the road. He was not wearing a helmet.
Eddinger was on his way to watch his two young daughters, Emily, 7, and Rachel, 9, who had the day off from school, when the accident happened.
Family friend Sandy O’Brien remembers getting the news that tragic morning
“I was in shock. I started to cry,” she said. “I didn’t know what was going on.”
O’Brien and Eddinger have been friends for 10 years. Her company hires performers and models and they met when Eddinger was brought onboard. They now live together in Conshohocken and he works as a personal trainer, she said.
A U.S. Marine Corps Reserve veteran, Eddinger was known as an avid cyclist, who pedaled everywhere he went. O’Brien said she often worried he would one day get into an accident while on his bike.
“Being a mom it’s a maternal instinct. He’s like a little brother,” she said.
Five days after the accident, O’Brien and her friend Joey Fortman launched a fundraising page on the website GoFundMe.com with a goal of raising $20,000 to pay for the cost of recovery.
“With a traumatic brain injury, as you can imagine the medical bills add up,” the site reads. “Doctors are hopeful that he can pull through this with his young age and great health prior to the accident. But they do believe that if he does pull through, it will be a very long road to recovery.”
As of Monday afternoon, more than 70 people had donated more than $3,000 and that number continued to grow.
“I think it’s awesome,” O’Brien said. “Every time I look at it I get goose bumps.”
As a breast cancer survivor, O’Brien said she understands how difficult it will be for Eddinger who will be unable to work but still have to pay his bills. While O’Brien and Fortman listed $20,000 as the ultimate goal on the fundraising page, that was a modest figure compared to the financial challenge Eddinger faces.
“If we could at least try to raise some financial help for them,” she said of his family, “they could concentrate their efforts on healing and doing what needs to be done to get him better.”
“He is an inspiration to so many people,” she continued. “To see the outpouring is phenomenal.”
To contribute to the campaign, visit https://www.gofundme.com/EdEddinger.