By Barbara A. Preston | Posted November 11, 2025
What happens when calamity strikes, leaving a person suddenly in debt with medical bills in excess of $100,000, and the person cannot work while trying to heal?
For Sean Kucharski of Rocky Hill, who was struck by a bicyclist while fishing from the Millstone River Bridge sidewalk on October 6, it means his partner (fiancée) has to work two jobs to put food on the table for the household, which includes two teenagers — and still falls short of the cash needed. It means they cannot afford to pay their monthly rent, and fear eviction. It means visits to local food pantries, anxiety, and dread.
Sean Kucharski of Rocky Hill was fishing for catfish by tiki torch on the Millstone River Bridge on October 6 at 9:30 pm when a bicyclist struck him.
Photo by Barbara A. Preston
Kucharski said he is also frustrated because he had just got engaged and landed a job at the Montgomery ShopRite when suddenly a man who should not have been riding a bike on the sidewalk struck him.
Kucharski and his finance Brandie L. Merunka like to spend evenings fishing for catfish off the Washington Street bridge over the Millstone River in Rocky Hill. They use a lighted tiki torch so people can see them. Unfortunately, on October 6 at about 9:30 pm, a bicyclist, identified later by police as Caleb B. Knowlton, allegedly cruised down the hill on Washington Street (Route 518) at a high rate of speed and onto the sidewalk, according to Kucharski.
The cyclist crashed into Kucharski and knocked him into the middle of the road.
Kucharski said he ended up with seven broken ribs, a lacerated liver and kidney, three blood transfusions, and more than $100,000 medical bills.
"It's a pedestrian sidewalk," he said. "It's not for bicycles. "I talked to his mother, who is a nurse, and she told me that her son didn't mean to do it. I understand that, but I'm really damaged — I can't work. I'm worried about my rent, I have bills to pay including for a self-storage unit that contains all my family stuff. It's $480 and if I don't pay it, I lose everything. I'm a big fisherman, I will lose my grandfather's poles, all my family heritage stuff. We are struggling just to pay our rent and food."
The last time Kucharski had health insurance, he said, was when he worked for a senior citizen facility, Crestwood Manor in Whiting, NJ. When Kucharski's grandmother went on hospice about a year ago, he says he was the one who took care of her until she died. He could not work full time while taking care of his relative full time, so he lost his health insurance, he said.
"She was like a mother to me," Kucharski said about his grandmother.
Sean Kucharski and his finance Brandie L. Merunka fishing for catfish by tiki torch on the Rocky Hill bridge over the Millstone River.
Kucharski said he couldn't afford health insurance while he was caring for his grandmother. "Even Obama Care was too expensive," he said. Plus, he was healthy and working out so he figured he could do without it for a year.
"It's not just the accident itself," Kucharski said. "I now have Brandie trying to work two jobs, and she's not making enough money to pay our landlord. Luckily, we have a landlord who is forgiving. I explained to him what happened, and he is willing to work with us, using our security deposit for now.
"On top of that, we have two children here and we cannot afford food. I mean, we are going to food banks. It's so strapping. I'm not used to being in a situation like this cause I have always worked my whole life. Now, all of the sudden, boom, I'm just knocked out of the picture."
Kucharski earned an associate's degree in criminal justice from Ocean County and has worked as a network engineer.
"I now have a floating rib that keeps re-puncturing my lung, and I'm coughing up blood, but they say there is nothing they can do for ribs. So I'm trying to scramble to figure out how I'm going to pay my bills."
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Kucharski is consulting with a lawyer about his sudden loss of income and his challenging living situation. "Sure, I could sue the bicyclist [if he has money or assets] but that's going to take forever and we are struggling so hard just to get by," he said, adding that it is not something he particularly wants to do.
"We just moved to Rocky Hill, and this is supposed to be one of the happiest moments of our lives, and now it is broken. There is no meat in our refrigerator right now. We have a lot of bread. But it's that bad. We go to the Montgomery Food Pantry (Otto Kaufman Center) and there is a nice Halal place in Kendall Park that gives out pasta sauce and chicken. Other than that, we are just struggling."
"I'm doing my best. I'm struggling. ShopRite Montgomery is holding my job for me in the seafood department, but I have to be able to pick up weight, and to bend over and pickup a box. Right now, I can't even breathe."
