Tara O’Neill
Connecticut Post, Bridgeport, Conn.
SEYMOUR, Conn. — Seymour Ambulance Capt. P.J. Bridge has a long road to recovery ahead of him after he had to undergo a craniotomy following a recent seizure.
After 40 staples and about a week in the hospital, Bridge returned home last week.
The community around him is helping cover the cost of his unexpected medical bills through a GoFundMe page created by Steven Michael and Bridge’s wife, Jacqueline Bridge. The fundraiser was created on Feb. 24.
“Unfortunately P.J. had an unexpected seizure and once at the hospital it was discovered he had some type of tumor present in the brain,” the fundraiser description states.
It said Bridge had to undergo “a significant surgery to remove the tumor.” And although he is still in the early stages of recovery and trying to remain in good spirits, the burden of unexpected medical bills loomed — leading to the creation of the fundraiser, the description continues.
Bridge is not just the captain of Seymour Ambulance; he also is an emergency medical technician and field training officer at American Medical Response in Bridgeport.
The GoFundMe said Bridge has been “an upstanding pillar in the community for years.” As of Friday afternoon, $13,248 had been raised for Bridge.
Jacqueline Bridge posted two updates on behalf of her husband on the fundraising page.
The first update from Bridge came on Feb. 26. His wife said he wrote it the night prior.
“I am officially home,” Bridge wrote in the update. “Thank you to all of my amazing family and friends. The amazing outpouring of love and support is nothing short of incredible. There’s no way I could have dealt with what I have without all of you.”
While Bridge said there are still many unanswered questions and a long road ahead, he was grateful for the continued support from the community, his friends and family.
In the second update from Bridge, which was posted on Sunday, he said he spent about a week at Yale New Haven Hospital.
“This has been incredibly hard for me, relying on others for the simplest tasks, and the pain..well sucks,” Bridge said. “The hardest part still is the not knowing of what’s next.”
Bridge said the doctors removed 95% of the mass/tumor, but that they still don’t know what it was — “which I’m not ashamed to admit is terrifying,” he said.
He added that there is still 5% left in his temporal lobe that doctors couldn’t safely remove without causing paralysis of Bridge’s right side or causing him to lose his ability to speak.
Bridge said anyone who knows him — or simply has been following the updates in his case — know he’s an open person. He said prior to the seizure and craniotomy, he was a very healthy person.
The staples in Bridge’s head will remain there until March 18, he said.
“This is going to be a battle,” Bridge said. “But this is a battle I won’t quit, and (I) know that I have an amazing support team of awesome friends and family that I couldn’t have made it this far without.”
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©2020 the Connecticut Post (Bridgeport, Conn.)