HELP! Chatty Carl Capdeville Can't Chat

Can you help us to reach our goal?

As Chatty Carl Capdeville left the birthday party, he said, “I think I ate a bad oyster. I don’t feel well.”

Chatty Carl then went silent for about two weeks before we got the shocking call. Carl was in the ICU, fighting for his life. His wife of 43 years, Juliana, was constantly by his side along with his three children. They were all in shock seeing their previously active and robust husband/father/grandfather lying in the hospital bed, unconscious and connected to all kinds of tubes and monitors. What had happened to him? It was a mystery. His doctors called in multiple specialists, but none of them could diagnose what put this healthy man unexpectedly into an ICU bed.

The lives of Chatty Carl’s family and friends and even the family lab-mix dog, were turned upside down by the severity and mystery of what had happened to Carl.

As Carl Capdeville fought hard to live for weeks, doctors struggled to identify what had suddenly attacked his strong body. After batteries of negative tests and being poked and prodded from head to toe, the apparent diagnosis is a mouthful of characters called Acquired Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis or HLH for us simple folk.

This immune deficiency disorder attacked Carl with such a sudden viciousness that he lost function in many of his major organs. For example, his liver and kidney functions ceased altogether for a while. They are now showing some minor signs of operation. On top of everything else, Carl is unable to eat or drink. His doctors have tried a feeding tube, but his body has not completely tolerated it. Chatty Carl is facing months of expensive treatment at the hospital and a rehab facility. Neither of these exists near his home on Orcas Island.

When Carl served his country in Cambodia during the Vietnam war, he gained a love for tinkering, which he turned into a successful career as a handyman and farmer. Carl has lost months of handyman income with no end in sight. He needs your financial support. Please donate.

HELP US SAVE THE BERRY FARM!

Carl and Juliana share a passion for food and wine. Together they started a farm-to-table catering business. Carl’s mystery illness could not have struck at a worse time. The annual catering and berry season was just getting underway. Farms require constant attention. Without Carl and Juliana’s attention and expertise, the business suffered, and the farm is beginning to deteriorate.

Chatty Carl loves stories and jokes. Orcas islanders close to him miss his entertaining presence. He would approach with a mischievous grin, tell an anecdote or lame joke and giggle. Carl’s giggle was entertaining in and of itself. With an honest face and gregarious personality, Chatty Carl has a way of genuinely getting people to like him.

Carl and Juliana need your help now. They have lost thousands of dollars in income and incurred astronomical medical expenses. Can you help them replace their lost revenue so they don’t lose their farm? Our fund goal is to replace $25,000 of Juliana’s lost income, $50,000 of Carl’s lost income, $5,000 to hire support for the farm and $20,000 to cover the added expense of medical care on the mainland.

Anyone may walk into the Orcas branch of Banner Bank to make an anonymous deposit into the “donations” account for Carl Capdeville. Please feel free to include stories or words of encouragement to Carl if you use the GoFundMe donate button. Checks and notes of support can be mailed to Carl ℅ Becky Doty P.O. Box 26 Eastsound, WA 98245.

You can track the progress of Carl’s recovery at his CaringBridge site https:// www.caringbridge.org/visit/carlcapdeville. You will learn when he will return to "the rock" so that you may properly prepare a greeting. I'm thinking water balloons….

Thank you. Please know that your prayers and positive thoughts mean much to Chatty Carl and his family.