One of our own needs really needs some help. We all are facing hard times with the horrible gas prices and job loss and all the other issues of today. But as they say just look around it can always get worse- or be thankful for what you have because others may truly have it much worse than you.
Well that is exactly what I'm about to fill you all in on. First let me tell you about this young man- his name is Jimmy Darling (aka Slim)- he is in his early 30's and is from the Lapeer Michigan area. He is related to Matt and Gary Beemer of Lapeer- they are on here all the time and great supporters of this sport. Slim is also a very avid vintage sled head himself and has restored a few sleds- the most recent is a very nice John Deere that he brought out for the first time at Live On Ski's Lapeer 2011. Speaking of Live On Ski's Lapeer-- he has always been willing and able to show up and help with trail prep days and helps out at the event itself too. He is a very quiet hard working young man. Slim has been on the crew at the Erskine Marine Mid Michigan Vintage shows for the last 3 years and is a very hard worker and a great representative of this event and hobby in general.
Slim is a very polite guy and enjoys his extended family. On Feb 18th 2012 he was at his parents home playing some video games with a couple of nieces and nephews when he had horrible chest pains and his life changed forever.
The family rushed him to the local ER where they learned he really shouldn't be alive as his aorta had severely ruptured and he should be dead proclaimed the ER doc. They got him back in an ambulance and were transferring him to a Flint Mich hospital, when the decision was made to take him straight to Univ of Michigan in Ann Arbor due to how badly his heart had ripped. They nearly lost him twice on the 90 mile road trip, and were trying to get a decent location to transfer him into U of M's helicopter which had been requested. He ended up making the whole trip by ground.
Several extensive operations later, Slim was faced with the news that he may not likely every walk again due to the damage caused by lack of blood to legs.
Well he has been in U of M for over a month now, and has just started rehab. I talked to him yesterday and he said he will be there for several more weeks and they are close to getting him to be able to stand with support - and that is a huge victory.
Jimmy aka Slim has worked at a local industrial shop for some time, but the company doesn't offer insurance- so here is where all of you come into this story. And Slim doesn't qualify for any help from Medicare-- they are filing appeals and fighting this but so far it's not good.
As you can imagine his hospital and care bills are going to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. His family has begun the task of trying to run some local based fund raising functions and I'm sure they will get some great local support. His family is all from this area and has been here for a long time.
I have gotten the OK from Slim's family to seek out some donations from members of this great hobby.
If you can come up with any amount of donation you can send it in one of 2 ways.
1. Mail a check to Jimmy Darling benefit, c/o Cathy Darling , One Zero Six Law Street Lapeer MI. 48446
2. Pay Pal the donation to me and I will see that the donations will go direct to the family. my paypal address is zzzlubahnd@charter.net Take out the ZZZ
If you send a check please put a note on bottom of check to denote Vintage Sleds.com friend or something of the sort.
Keep him in your thoughts and prayers!! And dig deep to help out one of our own. Thanks Doug
