“I didn’t realize I had so many friends”; Local business owner responds to community support amid recovery (News10 ABC)

This story by Valerie Wencis aired on News10 ABC and was published on its website on August 14, 2026.

News10 ABC’s Valerie Wencis reported on Michael Meade, the longtime front man at Thunder Mountain Curry, the Thai food vendor that chef Mike Gordon started 24 years ago and has run with Meade for the past 18 years. When Meade didn’t show up for their meeting the previous Saturday, Gordon went to his house, found him on the bathroom floor with a gash in his forehead and a pool of blood, and rushed him to Albany Medical Center. Meade told the station that a bad cold and a violent coughing fit left him light-headed, and that he passed out, hit his head on his bathtub and woke up paralyzed.

Meade had surgery to relieve pressure on his swollen spinal cord. The station reported that he is getting feeling back in his legs but his hands remain completely paralyzed, and that he was told recovery could take about three-quarters of a year. He said he feels terrible that Gordon now has to run the business alone. Gordon said a GoFundMe raised $15,000 in two days, with responses from alumni around the world (Thunder Mountain Curry also sells outside RPI), and that the stall at the market that Saturday would have a QR code for donations.

“I feel like George Bailey at the end of ‘It’s A Wonderful Life.’ I didn’t realize I had so many friends.”

— Michael Meade, Thunder Mountain Curry, in News10 ABC

Video courtesy of News10 ABC.

Read the full story at News10 ABC.