Oz Wardak was planning to have his 30th birthday party at Stingaree on April 30, 2009. On April 25, the celebration was delayed because Oz was assaulted when he went to pick up friends in Pacific Beach. The assault resulted in a 12-foot fall from a balcony which fractured his skull and caused intracranial hemorrhaging.

Oz was in a coma at the Scripps Hospital Surgical Intensive Care Unit two days. When released six days later, Oz was unable to walk or talk and his parents, Sadat and Alia, brothers and sister cared for him 24 hours a day for two weeks. Countless friends texted messages non-stop hoping they could do anything more in addition to their prayers for his recovery. Oz said, “I thought I was on my death bed. Hundreds of people prayed for me to get better. If it wasn’t for my family and friends I know I wouldn’t be here right now. I had a lot of time to think and reflect on my life in the three weeks that I was bedridden. I come from a very humble and generous family and decided I wanted to do something to help others like my family and friends helped me when I needed them most.”

Stingaree‘s Dave Renzella (former General Manager), Steve Velis (Marketing) and Shane Brennan (VIP Host) gave Oz his party on July 11. They, along with many of Oz’s friends, worked long and hard to honor their friend. Donations were collected at the door to be given as their birthday presents. “My friends and I were able to raise $1,000.00. It was a belated birthday celebration but it was also a celebration of life.”

Oz decided that he would rather donate the money to charity. ”I live a simple and good life and I realized that money would go a much longer way for people who actually needed it. I looked up some homeless charities on the internet and came across San Diego Coalition for the Homeless. After reviewing the pictures and reading the literature, I decided that this was the charity I wanted to donate my money to.”

Oz presented his check for $1,000 to Sandy Maynes on August 19th. We extend sincere thanks to him for this generous gift from the heart.

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 27th, 2009 at 7:57 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.