## Help Us Find Our Way Forward
In July of 2025, my wife and I lost our son, Wilson, about an hour after he was born.
Wilson wasn’t just a name we chose. It was my grandfather’s name. My grandfather was the strongest man I ever knew. He and my grandmother were together for 76 years before she passed, and he followed her a few years later. I hoped our son would grow up to carry some of that strength.
I had so many things I was looking forward to teaching him.
I wanted to teach him how to hunt, how to shoot, how to ride and care for horses, how to camp, how to build things with his own hands, and how to take care of the people he loved. I wanted to watch his personality develop. I wanted to see what kind of sense of humor he would have. I wanted to watch him grow up alongside his sisters.
Most of all, I wanted to teach him about God’s love and what it means to show that love to other people, even when life is at its darkest.
I don’t know how to explain what it feels like to lose a child. I’m angry. I’m sad. I’m broken in ways I didn’t know a person could be broken.
And yet, I had two little girls who still needed their dad.
So we kept going.
After Wilson died, my wife also had to remain in the hospital because of complications from her delivery. I was away from work for months while our family tried to survive what had happened.
Eventually I went back to work.
Before all of this happened, I was building something I was proud of. I own and operate a Matco mobile tool business, and I had been making real progress. From June through December of 2024, I completed $172,823 in business. In 2025, before Wilson died, I had completed another $241,371.71 in business.
The business was working. I was working. I was building something that I believed could provide a good life for my family.
Then everything changed.
The months away from work, the medical expenses, personal debt, business loans, and the financial obligations that continued while I was trying to keep my family together created a hole that I have struggled to climb out of ever since.
Today, our total personal and business debt and outstanding obligations are approaching $275,000, not including our home.
I am not asking for someone to simply pay off my life.
I am asking for help getting my family and my business to a place where I can breathe again.
A goal of $75,000 would give us a meaningful opportunity to stabilize the most urgent obligations and keep the business operating. A goal of $100,000 would give us considerably more room to address the debts that are putting the greatest pressure on both our family and the business and give me the working room I need to rebuild.
I know those are large numbers.
I also know that asking for help is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.
There are nights when I’m awake worrying about what bill, debt, or problem is going to become the next emergency. The constant financial pressure makes it harder to focus on the business, and without the business succeeding, it’s harder to get out from underneath the debt.
I know what I’m capable of when I’m able to focus.
I’ve already proven that I can build this business.
I just need the opportunity to get back into my rhythm and make it profitable again.
And there is another reason I’m fighting so hard right now.
We are expecting another baby boy in December.
We will never get to bring Wilson home. We will never get to give him the life I imagined for him.
But I want to be here for the son we are about to meet.
I want to be there for my daughters.
I want to be a husband my wife can lean on.
And I want to build a future for this family without waking up every morning wondering what fresh hell tomorrow is going to bring.
I don’t expect anyone to fix our lives for us.
I’m asking for a hand up at a time when I am struggling to find solid ground.
If you are able to contribute, every dollar will help us move toward stability. If you can’t donate, sharing this story may be just as valuable.
I have spent my life believing that we should take care of people when they’re hurting, even when we’re hurting ourselves.
Right now, I’m the one who needs that help.
I am trying to find my way forward—for my wife, for my girls, for the son who is coming, and for the son we will always carry with us.
Thank you for taking the time to hear our story.
