Main fundraiser photo

Will Samuel Medical Recovery Fund!

Donation protected
Hello friends, family, brothers and acquaintences of Will Samuel.  My name is Jamal and I'm here to see if together we can make a BIG difference in his (and his wife Jodi's )life by all of us putting at least a SMALL donation together to assist them during their time of need. 

For those of you who don't know, a little over a week ago Will suffered a stroke, (which he later found out was not the first he's had), as well as a mild heart attack at THE SAME TIME. 

Will has acute heart failure and while they found a way to effectively "stall" the stroke and hopefully prevent it from prgressing, (due to many factors I can explain later), they cannot aggressively medicate, operate  or otherwise intervene in any major way other than to manage his blood pressure in a very specific range, (i.e. too HIGH and he is at risk for another, more significant heart attack, too LOW and he won't get enough blood flow to his brain and the stroke gets worse). 

Basically they need his blood pressure to be higher than they'd ideally like it to be to prevent a stroke but not low enough to really rule out the danger of another heart attack (at least for the time being) which is quite a tough spot.  At this moment in time, the danger of the stroke trumps the danger of another heart attack by enough that elevated (but not ideal) blood pressure is the best "solution" in a world where there really are no "solutions" if that makes sense.  

For those of you that know the gregarious, outgoing, vocal (to put it mildly ...haha), energetic and just "Full of Life" Will it's probably a bizarre image to imagine him even being in a hospital (much less needing assistance to walk from people and a walker) and struggling  a little to get words out!  I know it wasn't easy for me to see.  The good news though is that (although he is not out of the woods) the immediate danger to his life has been managed enough that (as of today) they are now sending him to a rehab facility to get to the real work of getting back his brain and motor function so he can really deal with the road to managing his health and "way back"!  

Now, to truly explain how we can all help I'll briefly explain a little about the situation just before the stroke.  Our mutual friend Duane (Tewa)  had seen Will only a couple weeks before the stroke when he told him: "you aren't looking too good are you okay?!"  Will had been dealing with a what he thought was long bout of the flu (over 2 months at the time) and was run down but hadn't been able to sleep.   I say "he thought" because (although he did have the flu) he also had no idea he had acute heart failure which could explain any number of the other symptoms and the long "wipeout" of his energy and exhaustion.   Will is a young guy but we all learned this week just how a very troubled family genetic health history has caught up with him at such a young age, (i.e. Will's father told me that he himself was one of 11 children but only one of two that had not had a heart attack at some point).  In addition Mr. Samuel also told us that a niece and nephew of his had both passed away at ages 24 and 26 from heart attacks so there in lies a lot of the possible explanation to the question we're all asking when we think "How is this so bad?  Will is barely in his mid-40's!?"  

As luck and timing would have it, he and his wife Jodi were both out of work since mid-December and although Jodi started a new job (which she loves and they love her back) , nearly a month ago they were already behind and now she has been back in the hospital with Will fighting for his life for the last two weeks straight!  Her boss and job have been wonderful and beyond kind and understanding about her absence but it doesn't change the fact their income has been interrupted (yet again.)  After two months, all of this was too much to bear.   

So as you can imagine they're behind in many places and are struggling to keep lights on , gas in the tank, to catch up on rent and keep food on the table for the family (they also have teenage boys ... one of which lives full-time with them).

When I asked Jodi the other day for permission to write this campaign because I could sense that the economics of this situation were adding even more stress (as a medical crisis will do); she thanked me and granted that permission to tell this story.   When I asked "how much would REALLY help RIGHT NOW!?", Jodi thought about it and said $3,000.00 would get them out of the immediate "jam".  Therefore, knowing just how these things can go, as well as knowing that Jodi was only thinking about now, I am setting a goal of double that ($6,000).  The medical bills and the rest are something that will have to be addressed later but the basic necessities for a couple months past and little in the future I KNOW would give them time to focus on what's really important now... Will's LIFE! 

So there you have it friends.  If you can give $100 please do, if you can give $500 please do, if you can give just $5 please do!  I know we all have our many obligations in this world and many if not most of us have our own family, bills and personal "tough" situations to manage but the power of even a few dollars by a LOT of people will be felt and appreciated more than you know!  

I thank you all in advance for reading and caring.  Even if you don't know Will personally, your donation is equally welcome and is a true reflection of your compassion and sacrifice for someone you've never met.   You have my eternal gratitude and that of Will and his family for even considering it!  I'll personally make the first donation here of $100 and I'll match that with the last donation of another $100 when the campaing concludes.

Love and blessings to you all!

Jamal
Donate

Donations 

  • Jason Ghee
    • $75 
    • 5 yrs
Donate

Organizer and beneficiary

Jamal Ross
Organizer
Phoenix, AZ
Jodi Samuel
Beneficiary

Your easy, powerful, and trusted home for help

  • Easy

    Donate quickly and easily.

  • Powerful

    Send help right to the people and causes you care about.

  • Trusted

    Your donation is protected by the  GoFundMe Giving Guarantee.