Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

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Jim Spencer
Posts: 86
Joined: June 4th, 2016, 4:17 pm

Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by Jim Spencer »

Hello, everybody -

I'm hoping you'll help me with a little project I've taken on. I have an old friend and turkey hunting/duck hunting/fishing/trapping buddy in east Arkansas named Tommy Aycock, and he's fallen on hard times. He's old-school, computer-illiterate, can barely master sending a picture on his flip phone, so I'm confident he won't see this. But he and his wife need help.

I've known Tommy since 1981, and he is one of the most honest, moral, respectable, hard-working, loyal and charitable people I've ever met. Tommy is now 80 years old. Last February, he was running his trapline and pretty much collapsed on the levee of a reservoir where he was trapping beavers for the landowner. He was rushed to the hospital, where he was scheduled to have some stents put in. However, it was more serious than that. He ended up with heart valve replacement and a triple bypass. He was in ICU for two weeks and barely made it. Then his gall bladder more or less blew up, and he was too weak for the surgery so they put in a drain. He was in the hospital a total of 40 days and then went to Charksville, AR for 5 weeks rehab. During this time, he developed a staph infection at the drain site. Back to the hospital. He eventually gained enough strength to have the gall bladder removed, and now he's slowly recuperating at home.

On top of Tommy's health issues, his wife Carylyn has recently had knee replacement surgery, hernia surgery and has developed mild COPD. She also was on pins and needles awaiting a biopsy report for possible cancer, but thank God it came back negative.

Long story short, these two people have worked hard all their lives, Tommy as a farm helper and a nuisance beaver trapper and Carylyn as a homemaker and maid, cleaning duck clubs and houses near their east-central Arkansas home. They have lived paycheck to paycheck all their lives, always making a living but not much more than that, and neither of them have been able to hit a lick of work for the past 10 months. They didn't have much of a financial cushion to start with, and that is long gone.

The little house they've lived in for the past several decades has, in the meanwhile, basically rotted down around them from termites and old age. Their son and daughter-in-law set them up in a camper trailer, but doing this has largely depleted their resources as well.

This proud, honest couple have never taken charity in their lives, but recently things got so bad they applied for food stamps. They got approved. Guess how much? Fifteen buck a month.

So I'm asking you, if you see fit and are willing to help the friend of a friend, to go to the Gofundme website, search for Tommy Aycock, and donate whatever you feel like. Money where my mouth is, I started the fund with $500 and will donate more after Christmas.

I'm not asking that you donate that much - although it would make my heart go pitty-pat if you did - but if you could see clear to giving $10 or $15, more if you feel like it, it would go a long way to help this very worthy and needy couple get through a rough patch, and it would mean the world to me as well. If you in turn have friends you think might want to help, I'd greatly appreciate it if you'd forward this to them. If you don't want to donate online, pm me and I'll send you the Aycocks' mailing address.

I spoke to Tommy this morning, and he was outside, putting insulation on the camper pipes ahead of the cold weather that's coming in tonight. Despite all their problems he and Carylyn are both still outwardly upbeat and cheerful. That didn't surprise me; it's the kind of people they are. But I know this whole ordeal is eating at them, as it would eat at you or me if we were in their predicament.

If there's ever been anyone who deserved help more than these two people, I don't know who it might be. So here I am, hat in hand, asking you to help me help a friend.

Merry Christmas, God bless, and thank you for reading this.

Jim Spencer
Jim Spencer
Posts: 86
Joined: June 4th, 2016, 4:17 pm

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by Jim Spencer »

jhogue
Posts: 380
Joined: September 13th, 2017, 5:08 pm
Location: Van Buren, Arkansas

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by jhogue »

Looks like several people have been in the giving spirit and are moving this forward Jim. Donated and shared on Facebook. First thing I've shared on Facebook in about a year. I try to stay off there to avoid political drama. Merry Christmas and thank you for looking out for this man and his family. :turkeywave:
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soiltester
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 3708
Joined: March 31st, 2015, 8:04 am
Location: Gaffney SC

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by soiltester »

Jim, Thanks for posting and Merry Christmas!! :thumbup:

FYI I matched Brenda's cont. ;)
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
SumToy
Posts: 317
Joined: July 2nd, 2012, 8:39 am

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by SumToy »

Get me a address I send it. Plus if we can do silent auction I can put a choke and base up.
Jim Spencer
Posts: 86
Joined: June 4th, 2016, 4:17 pm

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by Jim Spencer »

Update: The Gofundme Aycock account is approaching $3 grand. Lots of it is from Gobbler Nation folks. Also, several are sending checks direct to the Aycocks. Thanks much, everybody, keep it going. Merry Christmas.
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soiltester
Gobbler Nation
Gobbler Nation
Posts: 3708
Joined: March 31st, 2015, 8:04 am
Location: Gaffney SC

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by soiltester »

Jim,
It sure looks like your getting closer to your goal to help out Tommy!!!!
Again, "THANKS FOR POSTING" and Merry Christmas :thumbup: :cheers:
ever wonder where the white goes when the snow melts??
pccutter
Posts: 33
Joined: January 17th, 2014, 12:24 am

Re: Please help a fellow turkey hunter in need

Post by pccutter »

Awesome Jim, lot of while known names and members here on that list. I'm glad to see, we as outdoorsmen can help each other out.
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