When he learned that Andrew Oberle, 26, a former UTSA anthropology student, was critically injured in a chimpanzee attack at the Jane Goodall Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa, San Antonio billionaire businessman B.J. “Red” McCombs stepped forward to help.

McCombs donated $5,000 to the United Way on Thursday to be earmarked for Oberle's family to help defray mounting medical expenses.

Now McCombs is asking the community to join him in reaching a goal of $100,000.

“We don’t want the family to be concerned about what they have to deal with day-to-day while his is fighting for his life,” Mc Combs said. “We want to take that pressure off of them and this is the route we’ve chosen to do that.”

Oberle’s friends with whom he lived while a student at UTSA have already raised $20,000.

“We’re just amazed, just speechless,” Anthony Reimherr said when he learned of McCombs’ fundraising drive.

To find out more information on how you can donate to the Help Andrew Oberle fund, click here.

Oberle moved to special hospital

Meanwhile, on Thursday morning, Oberle was moved to a specialized hospital in Johannesburg, where doctors say he'll get better care there.

The decision to move Oberle was made after his mother and father spent several days meeting with doctors to discuss their son's treatment.

Oberle has been in intensive care for the past week -- since last Thursday.