71-Year-Old Man with a Brain Tumor Gets Violently Attacked While Walking His Dog

A 71-year-old man in Arizona, who has been living with a brain tumor diagnosis for 16 years, is recovering after a violent assault that nearly killed him — and his daughter says he’s alive today because two strangers intervened.

Jeff Zimmerman was walking the family dog in his Phoenix neighborhood on Dec. 13 when a person riding a bicycle approached him and began beating him, his daughter, Kiera, told AZFamily.

Kiera said the attacker knocked her father to the ground and continued the assault, leaving him critically injured. She told the outlet that two passersby happened to be nearby and physically pulled the suspect off her dad.

“But the fact that they were like, right place, right time is literally an act of God. Like, that’s incredible. He’s okay because of these two strangers that happen to be there at the right time,” she said.

On a GoFundMe page created to help cover Zimmerman’s medical and living expenses, Kiera echoed the same message: without the couple who stepped in, she believes her father would not have survived.

“They saved his life,” she wrote.

Phoenix police told AZFamily that charges have been filed, but authorities have not publicly identified the suspect or released additional details about the investigation.

Zimmerman was already facing serious health challenges related to his brain tumor, Kiera wrote, and the assault worsened some of his existing issues, including an eye injury. She said he also suffered severe head trauma and multiple broken bones. He spent four days in the intensive care unit before being transferred to a trauma unit.

“Given his age and seriousness of his head injuries, doctors have had to monitor him extremely closely,” she wrote on GoFundMe. “He is in immense pain and is only at the very beginning of what will be a long and difficult recovery.”

Speaking with AZFamily, Kiera described her father as her “ride or die” and “the strongest person I’ve met in my life.”

“He’s had all the surgeries you can imagine, all the treatments, pretty much my whole life,” she said. “My very first memory is in the hospital with him.”

Zimmerman’s family estimates his medical costs — connected to both the attack and his long-term condition — will exceed $200,000, and they expect a lengthy recovery.

“I can’t even be upset because I’m just so thankful that he’s alive,” Kiera told AZFamily.

In her message on GoFundMe, she added that despite chronic headaches, vision problems, and balance issues, her father remains full of energy and spirit.

As of Dec. 21, the family had raised more than $30,000 of its $35,000 goal on GoFundMe.