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Benefit softball tournament for Oktoberfest assault victim

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Posted at 4:32 PM, Dec 04, 2021
and last updated 2021-12-04 22:13:56-05

TULSA, Okla — Hundreds of neighbors, family, friends, loved ones spent Saturday playing a few games of softball, for an important cause.

Do you remember Kevin Aebi? Police say he was attacked at Oktoberfest and nearly lost his life, spending three weeks in the hospital and two of those weeks in a coma. But he is home now and to help with his recovery and medical bills, his friends organized a benefit softball tournament.

“It’s kind of amazing, all the different corners of my life kind of meshing together at this point over this one unfortunate incident. Whether it’s high school friends, college friends, softball, soccer, blood institute, referee friends. They all know each other now, they’ve all joined certain Facebook groups together and they’ve all messaged each other. It’s really a cool deal," said Aebi.

Thirty teams from all over Tulsa came to play in Saturday's tournament, bringing in thousands of dollars to help Aebi get back on his feet. Friend, teammate and tournament organizer Jennifer Holley said the fact that he is still here is all they could hope for.

“I’m glad that we got to do this and help him because I know how expensive medical bills can be. I love Kevin, he’s a great guy, he’s a friend of mine and I’m just glad that we could all come together and put it together and I’m just happy that he’s okay. That was the best that we could’ve asked for because at one time we didn’t know what was gonna happen or how he was gonna turn out so I think we got the best part of it honestly," said Holley.

Aebi said he always knew he had a great support system, but bow he sees how loved and fortunate he really is.

“My family, my friends, they all worked together. It was very much a team concept and how they took care of paying my bills and my pets. The truck had to be towed, one of my friends works for a towing company. It’s just really a blessing that the network and the system in place that really helped me out after this," said Aebi.

Holley said the tournament raised more than 10 thousand dollars and more is still coming in.

Aebi said although his life will never be the same and he continues to struggle with new challenges left by his injuries, he knows those who love him, have his back.

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