When The Good Samaritan Needs Help
Donation protected
I want to tell you about my friend Dan. I've know Dan for the better part of 20 years. He is one of my oldest and dearest friends. We met in college over a shared love of theater and over the years that passed I came to find Dan as always being that one friend you could always count on to be there for you...and boy has he been. Through some of my own dark times and losses...he was always there. I am not the only one who has had that honor from Dan as he is a rare breed...unflinchingly moral, a strong sense of right and wrong and a person who would ALWAYS offer to help someone. This he has done time and again...family, friends, acquaintances, strangers, churches, theaters...if you have ever had the pleasure to meet Dan you would find a guy with one of the most giving hearts and who does so selflessly.
After years of working in sound and lighting design and truly being a master of his theartical gifts...Dan was struggling to make ends meet and ventured into hauling for a living. It fit Dan's other passion in life...driving. He has always been a road trip king and I have taken many with him myself. Oh the good times we had.
On Tuesday, September 27th, 2016, Dan had picked up a tiny home in Colorado and was taking it to Philadelphia for delivery. He has hauled quite a few of these and has made that trip across the country a number of times now. I had actually touched base with him during the late morning as I was prepping to go to work. Just a short way into Kansas - as we understand it - Dan had come up over a hill and straight onto a line of cars in his lane at a dead stop. Unable to stop so quickly when you are hauling the kind of weight he was, Dan swerved to avoid hitting the cars in front of him, but swerved to the left and had a head-on collision with another truck coming in the opposite direction.
Dan was rushed to the nearest hospital in Garden City, Kansas. Dan was still conscious and was able to direct them to contact his family and he also told them the name of my business and they called me as well. Dan's right leg was essentially crushed down through his foot. He broke 5 ribs on his right side and sustained some very bad brusing of his lungs.
Within a couple days he was flown to Witcita for their ICU Tramua Center there. He has undergone one surgery to fix his upper leg, but due to increasing issues with his lungs they had to postpone any further surgeries and have left Dan in sedated and on a ventilator as they keep monitoring his lungs.
Though Dan did have full commercial insurance for the work he did...he was actively working himself out of debts he already had from starting up the business and had a plan in place to get on top of everything...this has obviously changed all of that.
Dan has and will continue to have mounting expenses and medical costs and after watching him help, straight from his heart, everyone he has every come across...even when it maybe wasn't in his best interests...I am reaching out on behalf of myself, him and his family to ask for your help. Dan has a long road of recovery ahead for himself and we all want to do all we can to help him.
My favorite Bibical story has always been the Parable of the Good Samaritian. Regardless of your religious leanings...the story of all of these people walking by the broken man by the road, until that good samaritian came who selflessly helped him and took him to lodging for healing and paid for him to be taken care of is just a beautiful tale of how we all should live.
Dan is that good samaritian...but this time it is he that needs our help.
*Since they are keeping Dan sedated currently, all funds from the campaign will be managed by his sister Gwynn until Dan is able to himself.
After years of working in sound and lighting design and truly being a master of his theartical gifts...Dan was struggling to make ends meet and ventured into hauling for a living. It fit Dan's other passion in life...driving. He has always been a road trip king and I have taken many with him myself. Oh the good times we had.
On Tuesday, September 27th, 2016, Dan had picked up a tiny home in Colorado and was taking it to Philadelphia for delivery. He has hauled quite a few of these and has made that trip across the country a number of times now. I had actually touched base with him during the late morning as I was prepping to go to work. Just a short way into Kansas - as we understand it - Dan had come up over a hill and straight onto a line of cars in his lane at a dead stop. Unable to stop so quickly when you are hauling the kind of weight he was, Dan swerved to avoid hitting the cars in front of him, but swerved to the left and had a head-on collision with another truck coming in the opposite direction.
Dan was rushed to the nearest hospital in Garden City, Kansas. Dan was still conscious and was able to direct them to contact his family and he also told them the name of my business and they called me as well. Dan's right leg was essentially crushed down through his foot. He broke 5 ribs on his right side and sustained some very bad brusing of his lungs.
Within a couple days he was flown to Witcita for their ICU Tramua Center there. He has undergone one surgery to fix his upper leg, but due to increasing issues with his lungs they had to postpone any further surgeries and have left Dan in sedated and on a ventilator as they keep monitoring his lungs.
Though Dan did have full commercial insurance for the work he did...he was actively working himself out of debts he already had from starting up the business and had a plan in place to get on top of everything...this has obviously changed all of that.
Dan has and will continue to have mounting expenses and medical costs and after watching him help, straight from his heart, everyone he has every come across...even when it maybe wasn't in his best interests...I am reaching out on behalf of myself, him and his family to ask for your help. Dan has a long road of recovery ahead for himself and we all want to do all we can to help him.
My favorite Bibical story has always been the Parable of the Good Samaritian. Regardless of your religious leanings...the story of all of these people walking by the broken man by the road, until that good samaritian came who selflessly helped him and took him to lodging for healing and paid for him to be taken care of is just a beautiful tale of how we all should live.
Dan is that good samaritian...but this time it is he that needs our help.
*Since they are keeping Dan sedated currently, all funds from the campaign will be managed by his sister Gwynn until Dan is able to himself.
Organiser and beneficiary
Erick Reddekopp
Organiser
Portland, OR
Gwynn Hallberg
Beneficiary
