This fundraiser has been organized by a friend of the Szamiel Family - we truly appreciate you taking a moment to listen to a few words by Stanley’s daughters, Alyssa and Kayla:

“Unfortunately, we have gotten the news that there is nothing that they can do to further to help dad. He’s in end stage heart failure. Therefore, his extensive medical team, and all of us have decided that it was best to move forward with Hospice. Leaving my mom and I to be his caregivers, which unfortunately required my mother to stop working at her long time job.

My sister’s household is stationed out of the country and wishes they could be here with us during this time. I am a full time student, part-time employee and mother, who helps when I can, but my mom has been the sole financial provider in my parents home since my father was told he was at risk for sudden cardiac death, and instructed not to work. Now with both losses of income, we fear what life will be like soon for our mother.

To provide some background on my father’s condition:

In August, he was feeling very unwell, so we took him to Baptist. There, the medical staff found that he had a magnitude of things wrong with his heart. In that short time, he declined at a rapid pace causing him to be in and out of the hospital. He had a heart surgery scheduled for February 20th of this year, but his medical state further declined, which led me to bring him to UF Gainesville just two days before what was supposed to be a life saving surgery for him.

After 2 weeks spent in the cardiac ICU, his medical team broke the news that there is nothing they can do and Hospice was his only option. They explained that there is too much of a struggle to keep his blood pressure up and his heart in a normal rhythm in addition to many other things to safely proceed with a procedure of this kind.

Given this news, we are purely devastated for our parents, especially because we had the expectation of my dad receiving surgery and thought he’d have a fighting chance.

My dad is only 61, he was formerly very active and now he is bed and wheel chair bound. It has been extremely gut wrenching watching what I’ve known all my life to be a strong, mentally tough and active man, in this condition.

This fundraiser was created to assist my mom with expenses, since she has no choice but to remain home with my dad. A lot of you have asked how to help and after some thought, we thought this may be the best way. We’re hoping this will take some of the weight off of my mom’s shoulders during this extremely difficult time. Anything and everything helps! Even if it’s just some encouraging words.

Since my mom is handling a magnitude of things, if you have any questions please reach out to us first. She has received tons of phone calls and texts, which we greatly appreciate, but, we don’t want her to be overwhelmed.”

—Alyssa & Kayla