Walter Sumner’s Recovery Fund

Friends, family and the broader community, we reach out today with an urgent call for help. On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, our dear friend, Walter Sumner, was hospitalized after a massive spinal stroke – leaving him paralyzed from the neck down.

Walter is a self-employed Master carpenter who does beautifully detailed home renovations, custom cabinetry, restorations, and repairs. For 40+ years, Walter, or Wally as most call him, has helped to maintain our community or ‘village’ and the surrounding area. Wally, Diane and their pet pig, Miss Lila, live in one of the original Fish Camp houses in AllJoy, South Carolina, and are known for their warm, welcoming, Southern hospitality. Weekend games of horseshoes are customary, as well as community Lowcountry boils and Wally’s infamous homemade hash.

Wally is known for helping those in need, is ALWAYS ready to lend a helping hand and often does random acts of kindness for the elderly or widows in our village.

We’re asking for your help supporting Walter and Diane through this enormously hard time.

In addition to the stroke, Wally has had several surgeries, multiple MRIs, and tests, and was put on dialysis after having a perforated ulcer, which has since been repaired, while battling pneumonia. Having difficulty breathing, he was also put on a ventilator. Spinal strokes are rare yet dangerous. It is a severe and life-threatening emergency, but recovery is possible.

Wally remains in critical condition. But Wally is a fighter and is making progress towards healing every day. While we are optimistic that Wally will make a full recovery, the journey to get there will be long.

Compounding the urgent need, his wife Diane unexpectedly lost her job three days after Wally was admitted to the hospital. The business she worked at for 10+years closed its doors without notice, leaving her without income and insurance. May 27, 2022, was the date of her last check received.

Imagine the stress and worry if your partner suffered a sudden stroke. Now add the unexpected loss of your remaining income - it’s been weeks and counting. Not many of us could survive months without income while medical bills compound each day.

Diane is by her husband’s side, as is his sister, Roseann, and son, Weston, and additional family members and friends have put their lives on hold to support Wally and Diane. But this is a marathon - not a sprint, and they can’t do it alone.

Our community has always come together to lift each other up in support during tough times. Wally and Diane have helped many in our community; this time, it’s our turn to help them. We ask for your help supporting Walter and Diane through this enormously hard time.

URGENT: We need help paying for HUGE mounting medical bills, from Walter’s surgeries, dialysis, being on a ventilator, and numerous other expenses that are piling up. We need help to support his wife as she navigates paperwork and insurance and looks for a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation who will take a trach patient. Walter is less and less on the ventilator, and when he’s completely off, the case manager informed Diane, “you need to find a rehabilitation center– NOW!”

We need help paying for Walter’s rehab center and recovery time so he can have the therapy needed to heal and walk again.

And finally, as Wally begins his recovery, we need your help filling in the gaps that the loss of months of income will mean for Wally and Diane. It’s a big ask, but if not this community, and his friends, who else?

Together, we can help keep Walter and Diane afloat in this storm, and it will take all of us pitching in when, how, and where we can.

The first, best, and most direct help you can give is through this GoFundMe effort.

Literally, every dollar counts.

If Walter’s restorations, his kind, caring nature, goodness, questionable wit, and undeniable wisdom have ever touched you, please consider taking this time to show that love back in his time of need.

The second-best thing you can do is spread the word. Please share this GoFundMe far and wide: $5 dollars from a stranger matters. $10 bucks from one of your coworkers makes a difference. Every contribution will be gratefully, deeply appreciated.

And finally, in whatever version of prayer you practice, please hold Walter and Diane in your hearts. Keep the good energy and healing love flowing so we can have him back in the neighborhood, keeping us all shored up.

Please reach out to us if you have other skills or experience you’d like to contribute - it will take a village to get Wally back to horseshoe champion status, and we need time, treasure, and talent if you’ve got any to spare.

We are all so grateful to be a part of Walter’s community, local or extended worldwide. This is our chance to do something together, to rally and support them so that Walter can heal and Diane can be there for her husband.

With our deepest gratitude,

Wally’s Recovery Support Team