I’m going to be honest, I have a love/hate relationship with these type things. (Full transparency, I’m speaking as someone who has directly benefited from personal donations a few years back when I was severely burned, and am obviously thankful for everyone’s generosity during that time.) The reason I love these platforms is because it allows people to team up and help others in such a simple way. At the same time, however, I’m not always a huge fan because there are oftentimes people abuse and misuse these types of platforms to take advantage of the generosity of others. The “need” is often overinflated, or even worse, more of a want.

So let me start the story by saying this couple’s journey is certainly not the latter; if anything, this is probably long overdue. If you don’t know Philip and Abby Stancil, then let me begin by saying you’re missing out on two genuinely great people with two great kids. Like I said before, this is probably long overdue. The last year alone there have been many times a fundraiser could’ve and probably should’ve been started to help them out. However they aren’t the type to ask for help, which means it’s on us to see a need and act on it. For me, Abby’s last few days in the hospital served as a reminder of what Galatians 6:2 means when it says, “Carry each other’s burdens and so you will fulfill the law of Christ.” I genuinely feel like helping this family is the least we can do.

Here just a consolidated list of what their year has consisted of:

Late January: Abby’s dad was admitted to hospital; subsequently put on dialysis for his failing kidneys.

Valentine’s Day: Abby’s mom was taken to the ICU and then transferred to Emory’s Cardiac ICU where she went on to have open heart surgery. Because of Abby’s dad’s poor health, Abby had to stay with her mom in Atlanta for nearly 7 weeks while Philip had to go back-and-forth between Atlanta and trying to hold down the fort back in the ‘ville with two kids.

A month later, Abby’s dad was involved in a serious car accident and lost his license because it turns out he couldn’t see and shouldn’t have been legally driving. So now, in addition to having a mom at Emory, they’re now also tasked with taking her dad to dialysis three times a week, too.

June rolls around and Abby’s mom is finally moved to in-patient rehab at Emory and Abby’s dad has cataract surgery in both eyes to fix his sight issues.

July is baby steps and Abby’s mom is able to leave the hospital after 5 months, but has to move in with Philip and Abby because dad still isn’t physically able to take care of her.

This brings us to present day. Abby’s mom is still living with Philip and Abby as she continues to recover in a wheelchair, but then just this week Abby is hospitalized with some amnesia and potential minor stroke symptoms.

Most people who know the Stancil’s know that Abby has dealt with serious heart issues for most of her life and living every day as a young adult with a defibrillator/pacemaker isn’t easy. So whether you can give $20, $100, $200, or nothing at all, the goal of this isn’t to raise a million dollars, but rather raise something that says we see a burden and we’re here to help.

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