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Willie Morgan Needs Our Help Now

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Because he was always so friendly and positive it may be hard to believe that Willie Morgan recently suffered unbelievable  life altering tragedy and needs our financial support NOW.  To read the incredible story, please find and click on the "read more" link. You might have to click on the "View Fundraiser" button first if there is one.



People who have been lucky enough to know Willie Morgan remember the warmth of his personality and his unwavering positivity. "No problema" was his favorite expression and there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t try to help you with if you just asked. There never seemed to be any dark clouds in Willie's life.   What most of us never knew  was  the unrelenting tragedy that found Willie late in his life.  Tragedy that would break the spirit of even the most hardened individual and make a cynic of the most optimistic of men.  But, as we unknowingly witnessed,  it didn’t break Willie Morgan's spirit or make him a cynic.  
 
THE BACK STORY

The adversity I am going to tell you about began  in 2001 when Willie's middle daughter Jackie died of breast cancer at the age of 39.  This is the first in a series of events that are almost beyond belief.

It was not too long after Jackie’s passing that Dilcia, Willie's oldest daughter, discovered that she too had breast cancer.  As Dilcia’s disease progressed she and Wesley, her severely autistic son,  moved in with Willie and Yvonne.  Willie and Yvonne helped Dilcia take care of Wesley as her  cancer progressed until  2007 when, at the age of 40, she died from the same disease that had taken her sister.    

After Dilcia died Willie and Yvonne were left to care for Wesley. It is hard to overstate how difficult taking care of Wesley is. Wesley has never been potty trained.  He has trouble talking and doesn’t communicate very well.  Impulsive, hyper, prone to  uncontrollable tantrums, Wesley  would beat his head against the wall or beat on the television with his fists sometimes late in the night.   It is not an overstatement to say that being a caregiver for a child this disabled is more stressful  than most of us can imagine;  not just some of the time but most of the time.   But Willie and Yvonne worked as a team and managed the situation.

In 2008 Willie received a call from Alabama where his oldest son and namesake Wilfred Morgan Jr. lived.  The caller left a message on Willie’s cell phone informing him that Freddie, as Willie called him, had been knifed to death in a domestic dispute.  Freddie had kids so there were additional grandchildren Willie needed to support.

It was about the time that Dilcia learned she had cancer that Yvonne  was diagnosed with diabetes.  Yvonne’s diabetes progressed and in 2012 her doctors told Willie that she needed to have the lower part of both her legs amputated from the knee down.  People helped, money was raised,  someone donated a van with a lift.  But you can only imagine how much more difficult the situation was for Willie after that.  Taking care of Wesley was hard enough when Willie and Yvonne were working as a team.  Now Willie had to care for both of them.  Yvonne, Willie’s beloved wife of 48 years passed in 2014.  Now it is just Willie and Wesley.

It  is not an exaggeration to say that this is a horror story  of epic proportions. It is unbelievable that Willie persevered through all of this unimaginable hardship while always maintaining his positive, friendly attitude towards those around him.

I said to Willie the other day “I was around while all of this was going on. I never saw any indication that all of this tragedy was happening and I don’t think anybody else did either.” He said to me “ he didn’t want to take his problems to work”,  which I took to mean he didn’t want to burden us with his problems.  He told me that he liked to work the early shift because there weren’t too many people around.  And when things really got him down he would take a walk around the property.

Since Yvonne passed away, it has been just Willie and Wesley living in the family home.  Wesley is 22 now. He will never be able to live independently.  Up until this year Wesley was young enough to attend programs in the public school system for severally disabled kids. When this school year ends Willie will have to make other arrangements.  

WILLIE'S  FINANCIAL SITUATION

Willie has been, except for a few small government benefits, Wesley's sole source of support for most of Wesley's life.  Before he retired, the cost of supporting Wesley,  Yvonne’s care and her funeral expense were more than he earned so he used his credit cards to pay medical expenses and the cost of the funeral.  Now that Willie is retired it is not an exaggeration to say that his financial circumstances are dire.

You may believe as I did that Willie receives income from a pension plan.    He does not.   His sole source of income is his monthly social security check in the amount of $1,750.  He has a 401k and was able to save about $100,000. But he still has to care for Wesley and he is still burdened with Yvonne's medical and funeral expenses.  There is a mortgage. Willie owns a modest home he and Yvonne inherited from her family but the house came with a mortgage which he has been paying down but which still has a substantial balance.    

It is because I believe that Willie’s story needed to be told and because I know his future will be a destitute one without our help, that I decided to create this gofundme campaign on his behalf.  $500,000 may seem like a lot of money to raise, but Willie's dire financial situation, I believe, justifies our goal.  Willie will not have to deal with his situation alone.  I have set up an irrevocable trust for him which will be funded by your contributions. I along with others will help him with his finances.   Willie is now 73 years old and should have many good years ahead of him.  Funds that remain after Willie's passing, if any, will go to make Wesley's life more comfortable.  

I believe time is of the essence so please make a generous donation on Willie's behalf TODAY so he can continue to live in his home now that he is retired and provide for Wesley and the rest of his grandchildren.

You can donate with a credit card as easily and safely as you shop on line by clicking on the "Donate Now" button next to Willie's picture and following the instruction.  

If you would rather help Willie by writing a check, please make your check payable to the Wilfred Alberto Morgan Irrevocable Trust and send it to me, Robert Nicholas, at:

                                                11661 San Vicente Blvd. Suite 406
                                                 Los Angeles, CA 90049


You can contact me by email  by clicking on the email symbol next to Willie's picture above.

And PLEASE SHARE this with everybody you can think of whether they know Willie of not. You can do that on facebook, twitter or just plain old email.
 

                                         #TheIncrediblePerseveranceOfWillieMorgan
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Donations 

  • Robert Schriver
    • $500 
    • 5 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $1,000 (Offline)
    • 5 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $200 (Offline)
    • 5 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $20,000 (Offline)
    • 5 yrs
  • Anonymous
    • $500 (Offline)
    • 5 yrs
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Organizer

Robert Nicholas
Organizer
Los Angeles, CA

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