A group of 100 Mile House residents are collaborating to raise funds for a man they describe as “very community minded.”
Will Love was rushed to the Cariboo Memorial Hospital, in Williams Lake, for emergency surgery on Tuesday, July 31, after his colon ruptured, according to his friend Cecilia de Groot.
De Groot said Love was then airlifted to the Royal Inland Hospital, in Kamloops, where doctors put him on a respirator because his diaphragm was weak.
Love is now out of the Intensive Care Unit, said de Groot, but he remains at the hospital in Kamloops where recovery will be slow over the next few months.
“Will was actually sick for at least a month before he finally went into the hospital,” said de Groot.
She had taken him to the 100 Mile District General Hospital the day before his colon ruptured, she said.
After some tests, doctors had merely sent him home with anti-cramping and anti-nausea medication.
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De Groot now joins Gus Horn to organize a fundraiser at the Community Hall, in 100 Mile House, on Friday, Aug. 17.
She will be running a pancake breakfast, using her own home-made recipe, at the Farmers Market from 9 to 11:30 a.m.
From 12 to 2 p.m., she will be selling cobs of Soda Creek sweet corn.
Then, starting at 6 p.m., Horn will hold a fundraising dinner, $30 per plate for adults and kids are welcome on a pay-what-you-can basis.
The dinner will include a pig roast, cash bar, silent auction, Paper Cranes for Hope and live music by DJ Swampfoxie.
When asked what made her want to join the fundraiser, de Groot said, “Because he helps everyone, too. We all care about him.”
Love runs his own business: South Cariboo Property and Services, according to de Groot, where he services different properties and businesses.
She laughed as she recalled how Love explains his work: “Basically people call me to turn up their thermostats and I go and do that.”
She described him as a “drop-everything-and-go kind of guy” and said he’s always been “very community minded.”
She said he is trustworthy, easy to get along with and you can always call him if you need help with something.
“He’s usually running on the good of his heart.”
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Candace Suderman said Love cared for her a couple years ago when she was getting out of the hospital after a medical issue.
“Honestly, he was the best caregiver that I ever had,” she said in a phone interview from Kelowna.
She created a Go Fund Me page with the hope of paying the bills and keeping the lights on in the home of Love and his son, Liam, while they are away and not working.
Suderman described Love as “very kind and sweet” and “well loved” in the community.
“He’s such a community-minded person,” she said, adding that he often helped work in the community gardens.
“He’s big about community and pulling together when things happen … because he cares.”
Suderman hadn’t yet heard about the fundraiser being held on Friday when she spoke with the Free Press.
Upon learning how much people are supporting him, she said it was “wonderful” and made her feel “very warm.”
She said that would be Love’s reaction, too, if someone is in need.
Now that it’s he who needs help, she said, “People in the community need to know and need to help.”
For more information about the fundraiser, you can go to the All For Love Facebook page or the Go Fund Me page.
beth.audet@100milefreepress.net
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