Community Support for David's Family

If you’ve ever met my Aunt Cindy and Uncle David, you’d know just the type of wonderful, genuine, comforting, wholesome, talented individuals they are. They’d give you the shirt off their back, hold your hand while you’re crying, and offer help with any need you may have.

Within the space of 12 hours, their lives would shift forever. David went from mowing the lawn and discussing dinner plans with my aunt and their youngest son to suddenly not feeling well. Five minutes later, he was on the floor, gasping for breath in the midst of a heart attack. My aunt did everything right. She called 911 immediately. Helped the incredible EMTs get him loaded up, held his hand, and said, “I’ll see you at the hospital.” All the while, my 12-year-old cousin watched helplessly. Little did she know that would be the last time she would speak to my Uncle David.

He coded twice that night. Once in the ambulance. Once in the hospital. Throughout this entire experience, they were driving in an absolutely massive storm, dealing with hail, winds, and lightning. The storm was so bad that they couldn’t airlift my uncle to Charlotte… But we later found out that it wouldn’t have made a difference anyway. With 15 people gathered in the emergency room, we were given the news that my uncle had a 100% blockage in his main artery. We later found out that this unique situation was called the Widowmaker, with less than a 5% chance or survival. And unfortunately for our family, the condition was aptly named. After speaking with the doctor, we were told that he had spent too much time without oxygen to his brain. One of the brightest members of my family was gone– just like that. My cousins, their two older sons, then had to make the call to let their father go. My aunt was inconsolable.

They did everything right. There were zero signs. Zero previous conditions. My Uncle David was a completely healthy man. And then he was gone in an instant. None of us got to say goodbye.

In the midst of grieving the loss of her husband of 30 years, my aunt faced an awful truth. After months of convincing, David left his job at Lowe's, where he had worked for decades, three months ago. Facing a series of looming layoffs and struggling with the intense stress of the job, he decided to leave the company and start a new career path. As you can imagine, that in and of itself was a stressful decision. But my aunt assured him that his mental and physical health were more important. He immediately started with a contracting company and was already falling in love with the job. The downfall? Less coverage for life insurance. So on Wednesday, the day before our family tragedy, my aunt stayed late after school and signed him up through her plan. 24 hours later, he was gone.

Holding my aunt as she grieves has been one of the most heart-wrenching experiences of my life. Her soul mate of 30 years ripped away in an instant, with no chance at saying goodbye. Not a chance to say how much she loved him. Not a second to reminisce on the memories they’ve made. And no time to let her know how to turn the stereo on or what the wifi password was.

Yet instead of being able to fully grieve her husband, she’s left realizing that she has a teacher’s salary to support her and her 12-year-old youngest son. She’s left saddled with a house payment, two car payments, and a litany of bills. My aunt is left having no clue how to survive her heartbreak, and now she doesn’t know how to survive throughout the summer until we can come up with a plan.

The system has failed my aunt. After protecting themselves for 22 years, everything was wiped away in the blink of an eye. A pending insurance policy that will never be approved because he was gone too soon.

She doesn’t know I’m making this post. But I strongly believe in community– something devastatingly lacking in today’s day and age. My family can and will get her through this heartbreak, but it will take a village to get her through financially. So, I’m asking anyone who can to please help us in covering her funeral costs and ensuring that she can make it through the summer. As other teachers know, her way-too-small income (because let’s face it, we do NOT pay our teachers enough) will be dried up until August.

Any little bit you can spare will help us help get her through this process. I just want to give her time to grieve the loss of the love of her life.

Even if you can’t donate, please, please share this post. My hope is that she will see the community and love behind her, and that it will give her hope. Hope that she desperately needs right now.

If you’ve gotten this far, thank you! I can’t convey how devastated we all are, and how this could not have happened to a more amazing person. The loss of my uncle ripped a hole in this world and left behind a little less light. It’s unfair. It’s surreal. And we are still processing. His service will be held this Saturday, May 17th at Powels Staton Funeral Home in Rockwell, NC. The viewing will be at 11am and his service will be held at 12pm

Thank you so much for any help and well wishes. It’s appreciated more than you know.