David Toepfers medical fund

Dave Toepfer is a good guy. I know, as a member of his family I have witnessed or been on the recieving end of many of Dave's acts of kindness. He's the kind of guy that would give you the shirt off of his back (and actually did that for me years ago). Dave's the guy that would stop to help you if you were broken down on the side of the road at night. He is constantly helping friends and family members with emergencies or projects or whatever it may be, usually without being asked, never refusing if he is. Funny thing, he's doing these acts while he has work of his own that needs to be done.
If you've ever gone to Farm and Fleet of Freeport Illinois for any kind of automobile work you have probably run into Dave there. He's worked in the shop there for 30 years, currently as the assistant manager. Many people have gotten to know Dave personally through initially a shop and customer relationship but having it turn into a friendship. Lots of folks request Dave specifically if their auto is in need of a good mechanic, I know I don't let anyone else work on my cars.
Dave also volunteers for many good causes, his favorite is the Stephenson County, Illinois Sheriffs Reserve. Dave has been a reserve deputy for many years. He's not just a ride along guest, he is a uniformed reserve deputy with the same responsibilities and arrest rights that a full time deputy has while he's on duty. He performs all the required reserve deputy duties and also many others such as search and rescue on land and water. Something most folks don't know is Dave, as a reserve deputy, is not required to participate in regular patrol duty but he does. Dave has voluntarily ridden patrol along with full time deputies many times in the past. I know the full time deputies really like it when he does. He does this on his own time, for no pay. Thats his way of giving back to the community, thats the kind of guy he is.
Now unfortunately for the reason we are here. On August 10 Dave started having stroke like symptoms. Dave was admitted to Freeport FHN, and after testing he was thought to be possibly suffering from side affects to a prescription drug he was using. He was released and after a couple of days at home started having the same symptoms again, speech problems and painful headaches along with a very low blood platelet count. After being readmitted to FHN and having lots more tests run and finding nothing, Dave's doctor decided to have him admitted to University of Wisconsin hospital in Madison. He was taken up by ambulance on Aug. 16. Dave's condition started to gradually deteriorate while hospital personnel continued testing. Dave condition worsened until he was in a unresponsive state. This continued for many days until Aug. 27 when he finally got a 100% diagnosis.
Dave was diagnosed with an extremely rare blood disease (3 or 4 people per million) called Thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, shortened to TTP. This disease causes microscopic clots to form in the small blood vessels throughout the body. These clots can damage the brain and other organs. The good news is the high fatality rate of this disease has been turned around with current treatment. The treatment consists of seperating the plasma from his blood and replacing with donor plasma. Dave has been receiving these treatments daily for almost 2 weeks. He is progressing well and is getting better daily.
Now the part about money. Dave's been off work since Aug. 10. He has not been receiving a paycheck that entire time and won't be until he returns to work which could be quite a while yet. Dave's fantastic wife Mary took a family leave to be at Dave's side, she's been there almost every day he's been in Madison. Obviously she is not receiving a paycheck while she's on family leave. Our hope is that anyone who knows Dave, or reads this and just wants to help will give a little to help with their expenses while Dave recovers from this disease.
He would do it for you.





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