Helping an MGoFamily in Need
Mates,
This is not for me, but for one of our long-standing members (almost 14 yrs) who quietly posted a very significant 'GoFundMe' link in the basketball thread a couple down. It is easy to miss, but the essence of his family's circumstance is this:
1. Wife is in year three of a pitched battle with cancer
2. They had been keeping up with bills, but the wheels have literally come off and to top it all off, their suburban went up in flames on Saturday.
3. They have four children they are trying to shepherd through this difficult time, and trying to maintain some normalcy.
So the request is simple: if it's on your heart and in your ability, maybe click the link and give a little, or maybe a lot, but give something. Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/ypq3za-help-a-family-of-six?member=30210327&sharetype=teams
Disclaimer - Though I have met or had direct contact with dozens of you, I have not met or know Hoek beyond what he posts so I cannot vouch for him personally.
We all talk about pointing the Michigan 'Money Cannon' at coaches, NIL, etc., but maybe we can do a little for something that is far more important.
Lastly, mods, if this thread isn't appropriate please accept my apologies and nuke it. Otherwise, let's Go Blue.
XM
October 24th, 2023 at 8:58 AM ^
Thanks X. If I can donate some of the fruits my labors so that a certain ex-employee that used to work here can stay home, get high, and "rest" I sure as hell can find a few bucks to help this guy out.
October 24th, 2023 at 7:31 PM ^
Had to step in here and make sure we arent out done by some Buckeye!
Well done Buckeye brother, well done!
October 24th, 2023 at 7:37 PM ^
I've always said Buckeye Chuck's a good dude.
October 25th, 2023 at 7:05 AM ^
I deliberated giving anonymously, but then decided 'Why not raise the bar?' because y'all wouldn't want to be out-given by a Buckeye, right?
Let's see The Michigan Difference!
(Thanks XM for bringing it to our attention, brother!)
Hoek, I hope and pray that your wife will recover and live another few decades!
October 25th, 2023 at 7:20 AM ^
Thank you Buckeye Chuck!
October 25th, 2023 at 3:54 PM ^
Awesome stuff, BuckeyeChuck. Well done.
November 17th, 2023 at 10:10 PM ^
Challenge answered, BuckChuck.
Good on ya.
Hoek, my MGoWife (a Sparty) is a cancer survivor since 2017. May Mrs. Hoek join her in those ranks!! Prayers for you both and all the little Hoeksters...
November 2nd, 2023 at 2:33 PM ^
The progress has slowed to a crawl. The total has been at $7600 or so for a while. Have we lost our mojo?
October 24th, 2023 at 9:12 AM ^
Done.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:15 AM ^
Never lose hope.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:17 AM ^
Done, thanks XM
October 24th, 2023 at 9:19 AM ^
Donated. How cool would it be if this got back to the team, and Corum, JJ, or another one of our amazing, NIL-generous Wolverines—who are helping families like this at this time of year anyway—found a special way to join us. It's just the kind of thing that Fox themselves would pick up and make a Thanksgiving to remember for this family.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:27 AM ^
I don't post much anymore but am here daily. Just donated and I hope everything goes well!
October 24th, 2023 at 9:28 AM ^
Thanks XM for posting about this. With all the news about sign stealing it is good to see/read a thread about helping someone else. Donated and keep fighting Hoek family! Cheers!
Mods - Maybe you can pin this to the top of the front page message board (like snowflake threads) for 24 hours since we seem to have a new message board thread every few minutes right now.
October 24th, 2023 at 9:48 AM ^
Done.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
Done, and praying for your family!! Keep pushing forward Steve!!
October 24th, 2023 at 10:06 AM ^
I just donated. My wife also went through 20 weeks of chemo. She's been in remission for 7 years and counting.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:08 AM ^
Done as well.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:33 AM ^
Thanks for posting this XM.
October 24th, 2023 at 10:35 AM ^
Thanks for broadcasting this, XM. Happy to help the Hoek family any way I can. Done.
Hoek? Just keep going, doing what needs to get done for your wife and kids. Hope everyone survives and thrives to *much* happier times.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:19 AM ^
Done. Come on all you Hoek-a-maniacs lets help out our U of M family!
October 24th, 2023 at 11:23 AM ^
Done, thanks for sharing XM.
Long time daily lurker and rare poster here.
Cheering the Hoekstra family on - hang in there and keep fighting. Hope better times are round the corner!
October 24th, 2023 at 11:28 AM ^
Thanks XM, just chipped in a bit.
October 24th, 2023 at 11:49 AM ^
Appreciate the call out, I would have missed it. Just donated as well.
October 24th, 2023 at 1:10 PM ^
Glad to help, Hoek. Hang in there.
October 24th, 2023 at 1:33 PM ^
Thanks for posting.
Cheers Hoek. You and family stay strong. Let the weak moments come and go and remain resilient.
October 24th, 2023 at 2:15 PM ^
It is with humility, tears in my eyes and a humble heart that I say thank you. Thank you to the MGOBLOG community and to everyone! The Michigan difference, thank you to fans and alumni. Thank you to XM for bringing notice to this, and thank you to the mods for putting it at the top!
There have been so many bumps in the road during this journey, but my wife is the first one to put a smile on her face and fight this terrible disease head on. However recently that smile has faded due to the financial hardship and this past weekend watching her break down as our Suburban went up in flames, it broke me.
My wife still has a long journey in front of her, a few more surgeries @ U of M later this year.
If I was a smarter man, I’d add a few pictures of our family.
Thank you And always Go Blue!
Hoek
October 24th, 2023 at 3:16 PM ^
Your MgoFam is here for you brother!
October 24th, 2023 at 2:54 PM ^
Done. Thanks, XM. I didn't even check the bball thread, so I wouldn't have seen this.
Hoek, sending all my positive vibes your way. Best wishes to you and your family.
October 24th, 2023 at 3:58 PM ^
Done and done.
Last night when Hoek first included his GFM page in the hoops thread, I think the total stood at $120. After being given its proper light this morning, it's now sitting at $3220 some 7 hours later. That's amazing! Every little bit helps.
October 25th, 2023 at 7:03 AM ^
It was asked in the other thread if I have Venmo.
@Steven-Hoekstra-1
we are so grateful, and thankful.
October 25th, 2023 at 10:05 AM ^
Hoek, I am so sorry you have to deal with all of this.
I have to ask - what happened to your Suburban? I work at GM and depending on the circumstances may be able to connect you with someone to look into it.
(If it’s private or sensitive, feel free to email me at jayloh at gmail.)
October 25th, 2023 at 10:21 AM ^
So my wife drove it to Marshal (we are in Kalamazoo) to take the twins to their soccer game, she had no issues at all, we then drove my daughter to her game across town, again no issues.
Went home, kids showered got dressed in warm clothes and we headed out to the local pumpkin patch.
About five miles down the road just before a stop sign the vehicle (2017 Suburban) started to bog down, shake a little bit. As i approached the stop sign I smelled smoke, I knew it didn't smell like the car was over heating, then I saw smoke, dark smoke. So I went through the stop sign pulled off the side of the road popped the hood, when i opened the hood there were flames coming up from low in the engine compartment on the passenger side. By the time I got the kids and the wife out the entire engine compartment was up in flames. I remember looking at the gauges right after I smelled smoke and saw it, there was no warning lights, temp gauge was normal.
We were two miles south of Mattawan Fire Department, by the time they got there the entire front of the car was engulfed in flames, the windshield had melted and the drivers and passenger seats, entire dash were melted and gone. There are a few pictures on the GoFundMe page. Once the fire was out the entire front of the vehicle was just gone...
October 25th, 2023 at 10:34 AM ^
Jeeze, I'm glad you guys are OK. I submitted your description of the incident into our internal safety reporting system. They usually follow up within a couple of days. Would you mind emailing me your contact info in case they follow up with more questions?
October 25th, 2023 at 8:25 PM ^
Thanks for the reminder.
Best wishes, SH and fam.
October 26th, 2023 at 7:37 AM ^
Thanks for bringing this to our attention! Happy to help a brother in need. I suggest we each try to outdo Buckeye Chuck by say $15-22 (but I recognize $200 isn't peanuts).
October 26th, 2023 at 9:54 AM ^
At least one person had that very idea!
Pretty incredible that in about 48 hours' time the fundraiser is now at nearly $7000!
October 26th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
XM if you could please reach out to me at my email. (stevehoekstra2 at yahoo)
October 26th, 2023 at 12:46 PM ^
just sent
November 5th, 2023 at 11:20 PM ^
Donated and keeping the Hoek family in my prayers.
November 13th, 2023 at 1:52 PM ^
I logged in to say keep your head up. My wife is battling cancer as well ( two years). I would donate to you if I could. We have our own go-fund me as well, and it makes a sometimes impossible situation a little bit easier. Good luck with your battle. Your wife is a rockstar!
November 15th, 2023 at 10:01 PM ^
I’ll be praying for you brother! I’ll keep your family and wife in our thoughts!
November 14th, 2023 at 10:58 AM ^
Steve, I just made a small donation. I have one bit of advice for you based on my experience: be sure to take care of yourself. The stress on a loved one of someone going through a serious medical situation is tremendous and sometimes results in the loved one developing medical issues.
I retired last year to care for my wife. She has had various medical issues for a few years now. I was running from work to the hospital to visit her and not exactly ignoring my own health issues, but not being as proactive as I should have been.
Less than 2 months after I retired I had emergency surgery that saved my life. This year I developed cancer. I went through the IV chemo just fine, was doing oral chemo and radiation when after 20 of 28 sessions I was told I needed to go to the emergency room. I've had severe reactions to the chemo and have been in the hospital now for 4 weeks (11 days ago I developed a blood infection and got sent back to the MICU unit. Now I'm in a step-down unit and might be able to go to a rehab facility in a few days, but they won't allow cancer patients in any of the rehab facilities so I will have to wait until I can walk again to go home (the PT in this hospital sucks and I've been stuck in bed sometimes for several days before PT comes by).
While I've been in the hospital two of our kids have come home in sequence to care for my wife. They all live out of state. Now we have a hired service to help her out, but it's still out of pocket to the tune of $1500 per week. Fortunately we are in a position to be able to afford that for the time being.
Enough about me. Take care of your lovely wife and children, but don't forget to take care of yourself!
November 15th, 2023 at 10:02 PM ^
Thank you! I will keep you and your family in our prayers! I appreciate the tip of taking care of myself. I try, but as you know it’s easier said than done!
November 18th, 2023 at 2:27 PM ^
Donated. Good luck Steve!
November 19th, 2023 at 8:16 PM ^
Just chipped in. I’m glad this was a sticky, as I just noticed it. Good luck Steve!
November 26th, 2023 at 12:20 PM ^
Just saw this & donated (glad the moderators made this a sticky). Wishing you all the best for you & your family, Hoek. 🙏
January 8th, 2024 at 11:25 AM ^
A few months ago, I posted a link to our families Go Fund Me under a comment I made in a thread about Michigan's basketball scrimmage. Not thinking it would generate much thought. I had permission from Seth to add it to my comments.
That same night XM started a very well written thread post about our situation and Robf put it in the stickies! Thank you!
Little did I realize how generous, caring and giving the MgoBlog & University of Michigan community could be! Also for those from other fan bases (BuckeyeChuck that I know of) who have been so caring. Although sports and rivalries can get heated you have shown that helping another human transcends far beyond sports!
I want to thank you all for the difference you have all made, Rice4114 has been in contact via email and been a huge help and JLO went out of his way to have GM contact us about the fire in our Suburban. I have had many phone calls with them to try and find the cause of the fire.
Since the fire to our vehicle a little over two weeks ago, my wife has been back to Ann Arbor and is healing well enough from her last surgery that they will be scheduling her next surgery early in the new year. (Thank you University of Michigan Hospital) Although still a long ways to go, it's a sigh of relief to see the next phase in the near future.
Although we are still in waiting on insurance to finish up with our vehicle so we can move on and find a replacement, we are hoping that happens soon.
The reason I'm writing this is to thank you! Thank you to everyone! Thank you to the mods! Thank you for the prayers, thoughts, well wishes and your giving! The outpouring has been overwhelming, humbling and life changing!
I hope sometime in the future we will be in a place where we can give back as you have all given!
We truly thank you from the bottom of our hearts, you have all made a huge difference.
Thank you, God Bless, and Go Blue
* I made a post of this a few months back (during the MSU week with all the sign gate shit happening), I just wanted to make sure our gratitude was shown and how thankful we are to each and everyone of you!!