Stroke Recovery Fund for Young Black Gay Man
THE ANGEL FUND
Support black queer vogue dancer’s stroke recovery effort
Hi everyone, my name is Matthew and I am raising funds on behalf of my dear friend Jemal (aka Angel).
Jemal “Angel” Evans is a gifted dancer, teacher and friend. We love Jemal and it is so hard to see him struggling at this time. Jemal is known for having held kiki balls in his own living room during the early days of the Toronto ballroom scene. Unfortunately, Jemal’s ability to dance has been seriously compromised by a string of health crises in the past year.
Jemal is a funny, sweet and loveable person and a talented vogue performer. He is one of the forerunners of the Toronto Ballroom scene and has competed internationally and performed at Toronto Pride.
Sometime between Tuesday Jan. 26 and Thursday Jan 28, Jemal experienced a terrible head ache and took a nap to sleep it off. A couple days later, his mobility became further restricted and Jemal decided he needed to take action.
Jemal then had to make the excruciating journey to a nearby hospital by himself despite barely being able to walk. When he arrived at the hospital, a nurse at the front desk noticed how much Jemal was struggling and rushed to his aide.
After being assessed by doctors it was determined that at the age of 34, Jemal had suffered a stroke to the right side of his brain.
It has been roughly a week since the stroke and Jemal's current condition is stable. Sadly, Jemal has lost mobility on the entire left side of his body from the shoulder down.
Unfortunately for Jemal, this stroke was not his only accident in recent years. In the beginning of 2020 Jemal ruptured his Achilles tendon. This is one of the most painful injuries a person can sustain and he was only able to return to work this past November.
Jemal receives no support from his family and is now reliant on his friends to help care for him. This however, is very challenging with the current state of COVID-19 in Toronto.
We are calling out to the community to lend their support to this fellow black queer man. Funds raised will go to help support his cost of living and to subsidize medical costs that are not covered through OHIP.
Please support any way you can. No contribution is too small.
If you can't contribute financially, we ask that you please share this page to help raise awareness about Jemal's current condition. We are using the hashtag #theangelfundto to connect on social media.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, we are very hopeful for Angel’s recovery but we know he can’t do it alone. We all deeply appreciate your shares and donations and we are hoping the community will rally behind this gifted black queer artist. Together we can help make sure Angel dances again.
THE ANGEL FUND
