Jerome Smith was walking home from a gas station four years ago when a man bashed his head in with a rock, leaving the then 20-year-old clinging to life. It was a day Smith recalls vividly. He said he and a female relative were walking home when a man started shouting jeers at her. "I got in and I tried to solve the problem and the next thing I know he was requesting my money, like demanding my money," said Smith.

"From there it just escalated to where me and my godsister tried to run off and by the time we made it by the corner of Antonio Drive, that's where he came with this block in his hand and struck me. "When he struck me with the block I tumbled over and then he sat on my back and started beating the block into my head, right in the middle of the road." It was a horrifying event said Smith, who now has trouble speaking and walks with a limp.

"I can't fully get my arm down but I'm working on it through my therapy," he explained. Smith needed multiple surgeries to repair the damage done to his skull. The right side of his brain was damaged, affecting the functions of the left side of his body. He also has a depression in his skull. "A lot of people always joke with me and say I used to be a ladies man," he said. "Just to be like this, it caused my self esteem to drop and I was to the point where I wasn't up to that level that I used to be."

Through the tragedy Smith is trying to live a normal life. He is trying to pay off his $7,000 surgery bill but he also wants a final reconstructive surgery that would attach an artificial plate to his head and give him a normal look. It has been the church and God said Smith, that has helped him the most. "That's why when I see the guy on the road who assaulted me, I don't hold any hate in my heart towards him because I've learned to let it go," he said.

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