Houston man desperately seeking help for open wound after gunshot

HOUSTON - A local family is urging our community to help them find help for their adult son.

Austin Campbell was shot in the arm and jaw in February 2021. Surgeons rebuilt his jaw with hardware, but now his body is rejecting it and his chin has split open.

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He says his jaw is deteriorating, but he can't find medical care, since he doesn't have insurance. He feels like he's stuck in a vicious cycle because he hasn't been able to find a job because of his appearance, which further escalates the problem that he can't get health insurance.

Houston man desperately seeking help for open wound after gunshot

Austin Campbell was shot in the arm and jaw in February 2021. Surgeons rebuilt his jaw with hardware, but now his body is rejecting it and his chin has split open.

While the man who shot him faces a ten-year sentence, Austin says he feels like he's stuck in an even worse situation than that.

"My body is basically rejecting the metal, and I've already had three screws fall out. Honestly, I don't know how it's still in there, but it is. The plate is fully exposed, and it's still leaking," explains Austin.

Austin is 29 years old, so he obviously doesn't qualify to be covered through his parent's insurance. His loving mom, Cristi, reached out to us at FOX 26, hoping we can help them find answers to Austin's desperate situation.

"For two years, we have been battling for my son, and he is being told no. It is not a good situation. It's at times chaos. You would think the state that you live in would be willing to help you, when you walk into their doors and they see the situation, but you're told no," states Cristi.

She says they're desperately seeking help and urging anyone who has ideas, to please come forward.

"That is my hope for my son is that somebody would be willing to take this case on. He can't live like this for the rest of his life because there's no possible way. He can't logically! He can't get a job because nobody's willing to hire him because he's a liability. He can't leave this uncovered and with the hair that grows, with the sweat, with everything that he does, the bandage comes off. It leaks, it's literally not a good situation. We need legitimate health care needs now," states Cristi.

They're also extremely concerned that infection could set in.

"He's actually been to the hospital for bad headaches, and they give him medication for the headaches, but then they give him a cream for his wound, but that's it. That's literally it. He never had migraines before, and he gets them now. He needs help," urges Cristi.

Here are some ideas for anyone unemployed to try to find an insurance plan:

https://www.healthcare.gov/unemployed

https://www.hhs.gov/answers/hhs-administrative/what-programs-use-the-poverty-guidelines/index.html

Other opportunities to seek help with medical bills through a non-traditional plan: https://www.chministries.org

When you can't afford a plan: https://connect.bcbstx.com/getting-health-insurance/b/weblog/posts/what-if-you-can-t-afford-insurance

Charity health care in Texas: https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/faq/access-to-health-care-qa