Republican ex-congressman Michael Grimm asks for $2.5 million to help him walk again after polo accident

Former Republican Congressman Michael Grimm is asking for $2.5million to help him walk again after being seriously injured from a polo accident.

Grimm, 54, was left paralyzed from the chest down in September during a polo match, and is now being treated at the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in New Jersey .

His Newsmax colleague, Greg Kelly, revealed on his radio show that the accident took place at a September 22 polo match and the former politician 'seriously damaged his neck' after he was 'thrown from the horse.'

'He's a great horseman,' Kelly said. 'Please say a prayer.'

Former NYC Council Member, Vincent Ignizio, started a GoFundMe for the former FBI agent, asking for $2.5million in donations to pay for treatment to help him 'walk again.'

'He has been in the most devastating of situations and through the grace of God and the amazing medical teams who have helped him, Mr. Grimm has miraculously thread the needle to survive,' he wrote on the fundraiser that has so far garnered more than $430,000.

'Yet, his ongoing care and the treatment to walk again will cost millions of dollars.'

The former Marine had been an avid polo player for years and has regularly participated in tournaments throughout the Hudson Valley, according to The New York Times.

'If there is anybody that can show the strength and fortitude and will to ensure his full recovery, it's Michael Grimm,' Ignizio told The New York Times.

'He's a tough Marine and a tough patriot, and we are all just praying.'

Grimm, who notoriously threatened to throw a reporter off a balcony during the 2014 State of the Union , represented Staten Island and a part of Brooklyn in Congress from 2011 to 2015.

A federal investigation into Grimm's fundraising that started in 2012 ultimately resulted in a 20-count indictment centered on a restaurant Grimm ran in Manhattan.

Prosecutors said he underreported wages and revenue to the government and filed false tax documents.

Grimm won reelection in 2014 despite the indictment but pleaded guilty the following month to one count of tax fraud.

He resigned from Congress in January 2015 and served eight months in prison.

Grimm attempted a comeback in 2018 but lost a Republican primary for his old district to incumbent Representative Dan Donovan, who then lost the general election to Democrat Max Rose.

Republican Representative Nicole Malliotakis defeated Rose in 2020 and has represented the district since then.

Grimm has recently worked as a host on Newsmax.