Fundraiser held for hospitalized boy

More than 250 people turned out for a fundraiser on July 10 for Abdul Bird, a Long Beach Middle School student who remains hospitalized after he was struck by an SUV while skateboarding on Lido Boulevard last month.

Howie Appel, more commonly known as “Halftime Howie,” hosted his regular Tuesday radio show, “Broadcasting on the Beach” on WGBB 1240 AM, at Ribeye Bros. Cheesesteaks in Island Park to create awareness about the fundraiser for the 14-year-old boy’s family.

“As soon as I read about Abdul and what happened to him, I said it would be a great idea if we had a fundraiser to try to help out his family,” Appel said. “I contacted Damien Walsh at the Ribeye and he said ‘let’s do it,’ and it turned out to be a great event.”

The incident occurred on June 19 when Bird was skateboarding on Lido Boulevard at Greenway Road. He was on his way to the middle school for a rehearsal for a moving up ceremony the next day, when a 2011 Mercedes Benz travelling west on Lido Boulevard struck the eighth-grader, who was skateboarding east. Bird was airlifted to Nassau University Medical Center with a serious head injury and later transferred to North Shore-LIJ where he was in critical condition.

His condition has since been listed as stable, and Bird has shown signs of improvement, according to his wrestling coach, Miguel Rodriguez, who last visited Bird on July 11, and said he's still not “100 percent.”

“He's not walking at all — he's using a walker — and he's being taught everything all over again," Rodriguez said. "He's being taught how to eat, read, how to write, how to speak … I'll be talking to him for five minutes and ten minutes later he'll start the conversation all over again, but he's in the process. It's going to take time for him to get better."

Bird's doctors declined to provide an update on his condition. Rodriguez said they don't want to “make any promises.”

“Time will tell,” he said. "You have to be patient and you have to be optimistic and keep praying, but he's in good hands."

Rodriguez said Abdul was transferred about a week ago to the Saint Charles Hospital and Rehab Center in Port Washington and family trips to visit him are a major expense in gas. The fundraiser helped raise more than $3,000 for his family’s travel expenses.