Help Bob and Family Overcome This Tragic Setback

Hi! My name is Angel and I'm creating this GoFundMe to try to help support my family in a time of emergent uncertainty and hardship. Just 4 days ago, my husband Bob, literal candidate for husband and father of the century, was working on a project to build a fence around a small raised bed for our young sons to have their very own vegetable garden, when suddenly his glove snagged in the rotating blade of a table saw, pulling his fingers in and essentially rough-chopping 2 of them off! GoFundMe won't allow me to share the photo of Bob's fingers from the hospital, but trust me- it ain't pretty!

It was a terrifying ordeal in real-time, and we both knew instantly as we saw his fingers hanging off of his glove, jagged bones splintering in all directions, that not only was this going to be painfully awful for him, but it would have untold negative impacts on our family.

You see, me and Bob are new to the small town where we now live, having bought a house here less than a year ago. We don't know a whole lot of people here, and our support systems are mainly back in NY and CA. We have 3 boys between the ages of 12 and 2, two of whom receive in-home services and therapies for their challenges and disabilities. So I stay home with the boys, focussed on their growth and development, while Bob works an hour and a half away at a really great job that he enjoys...but cannot work while healing and without the use of his hand.

Our city kid dream was to combine our talents and interests to farm a small slice of Earth all our own and bring our children up in an environment where they can get to know the rhythms of nature, grow their own food, build their own lives, and never dream too big or too simple an existence for themselves. But this meant moving a good distance away from those who we call friends and family, while we work to make some more along the way. In this moment, that lack of support to help watch the kids or change diapers is feeling pretty heavy on top of everything else.

Bob is truly an incredible man in his unmatched strength, humility, and dedication to his loved ones, as well as his skilled ability to build whatever he planned or imagined- and he is the reason we are able to live this life we have always dreamt of.

As a combat Veteran of the US Army, a valued long-time employee of the Federal Aviation Administration, a loving father of 3 boys on the Autism spectrum, and an all-around total badass to anyone who knows him, Bob has worked himself out of abject poverty in childhood to reach the cusp of the middle class armed solely with two hands and his own bootstraps.

We are only days out from the accident, and it is clear that the road ahead is not only long, but very uncertain. After one surgery to reattach the fingers, it's now a waiting game to see if the blood flows well enough to keep them alive, or if another surgery needs to be done to remove the dead fingers altogether. If they survive, there are still more challenges ahead, as they would never feel sensation again, bend without joint replacements and tendon repairs, plus untold hours of physical therapy.

The bare bones of the situation is that Bob will be out of work for at least several months as he walks the painful path to recovery. With the accident happening at home, he doesn't receive any of the protections of accidents that occur at work, and all expenses lay squarely on our shoulders.

Medical bills for services already received, the various procedures to come, loss of wages for an unknown amount of time out of work, and the potential loss of health benefits for our family if Bob has to go on extended disability, all add up to a really stark reality of hardship for our family- especially after just purchasing our first home! As the sole financial provider, you can imagine how scary this current moment is for us, but we are both born to overcome, and yet again our constitutions are being tested.

We are asking our communities, near and far, to help out in any way you can. Any amount of financial assistance in our actual time of need would be so appreciated, and a share of our story is super helpful as well. If you think you can help in other ways, like lending a hand on our soon-to-be Full Son Farm, or intermittent childcare relief, please do reach out to me, because Bob can't change a diaper or pick up the kids for a long time to come.

Our plates are so full. We know people want to help, but it's hard to find realistic ways for everyone to help, especially when many of you are very far away, and we are grinding harder than ever to keep all of the plates in the air, all the boys rockin, all the plants growing, and all the bills paid.

That's why I'm starting this campaign- to help you help us. So thank you, THANK YOU, from the bottom of my heart. Thank you.