'TIS THE SEASON . . .

Man Who Intervened in Domestic Assault 

Still Recovering From Injuries

On June 29th of this year, Chicago musician Matthew Leone witnessed a man beating his bleeding wife on the sidewalk and attempted to intervene in response to her pleas. He's still recovering from his injuries and his assailant is out on bond.

But when he turned toward the woman, who was sobbing and begging him not to leave, Leone says the man struck him from behind. 

What came next was a barrage of blows, one after another, that knocked Leone unconscious and sent him to a hospital with a broken nose, a dislocated jaw and head trauma so severe that surgeons had to remove a third of his skull to relieve the pressure on his brain.

Six months later, the 35-year-old Leone says he feels grateful to be alive. After two brain surgeries and months of rehabilitation, he still struggles with intense pain and a host of other health problems, including vertigo and memory loss. But he can walk and talk — abilities that doctors initially worried he might never have again.

- Chicago Tribune

  

To make matters worse Leone doesn't have health insurance and has had to rely on the generosity of others to help him meet his in-excess-of $300,000 medical bills and on the devotion of his brother to help him take care of himself. 

 

(If you'd like to donate, you can do so here. You'd be joining the likes of Billy Corgan and Gene Simmons in supporting Matthew.)

 
A Facebook group called Hope I Never Find You, Justin Pivec has sprung up, and the Chicago music community has rallied around Leone. Even so, the gross injustice in this case- a heroic gesture is repaid with a life-threatening injury- is made even more upsetting when you realize that the man at the center of all of this is back on the street.

And the initial assault on his wife? It was because she dared come home late.

- Jezebel