Steve Daiboch and his wife need our help!

My name is Chris Donnelly and I'm fundraising for my boat mechanic, who became my close friend, and also happens to have served 32 years in Law Enforcement as a Police Officer in Point Pleasant Beach and Lakewood, NJ.

Here's a bit about his story...

Steve retired from Law Enforcement in 2006. He is currently 70 years old. Before he retired, he started repairing boats part time. After he retired, it became full time and presently has been doing it for 22 years. Obviously, this man is not afraid to work hard, day in and day out. Actually, it's all that he knows how to do.

On 6/12/2022, he finished working on a boat, went home and showered. He watched a little bit of TV and went to sleep. Steve woke up on 6/13 and had to roll out of bed and crawl across the floor. He told me that it felt as if had a knife is his lower back and was twisting it. On the way to the hospital, his arms swelled up and he told me that he looked like Popeye. Steve has a thin build so this was strange to hear and he had never seen anything like it.

At the hospital, Steve got a shot to relieve the pain in his back. He was then admitted to Kimball Medical Center. For the next two weeks, they tried to figure out what was going on with his arms, and nothing was done with his back, other than pain meds to mask the pain.

After that two weeks was up, Steve was transferred to Community Medical Center. After those two weeks at Community Medical Center, they found out that he had Gout in his arms. He said it was so extremely painful, that he could not even open a sugar packet on his own. Someone that used to move engine blocks and outdrives.

After two and a half more weeks at Community Medical Center, he was discharged. He went to an orthopedic surgeon. After several tests, they discovered that he had an infection in his back. The infection, after all the time that had passed, had eaten part of a disc in his vertebrate. He was then admitted to Riverview Hospital where they opened up his back and cleaned out the infection.

Sometime this month they are going to replace two of Steve's vertebrae. The recovery time for a procedure like this is 3-6 months. Steve's biggest issue is that he does not know how not to work, or ask for help. That's where I'm pleading for anyone to help. He has already been out of work since June. There has not been a cost of living increase in pension benefits for retired officers since he retired. On top of that, he still has all the recovery time to go.

Steve has already gone through all of his savings and is in a bad place. Him and his wife are older and the stress can have major health implications that I don't want to stand by and just watch happen. He is a hard working man, great friend, and loving husband and he does not yet know that I am trying to create this revenue for him.

To pay his mortgage, car, and household bills, he really needs more like 50k but I'd like to start somewhere for him. If we could get there, that would be a miracle. Miracles are not impossible though and it is great to be a part of them. Please help in any way you can. Donate and/or please, please share this because once he finds out, he does not have a big social media following due to being a more old-school kind of guy. Thank you all and bless you for any help.