Lending a Hand
October 27, 2009 02:24 PM | General
By Steve Stone for MSNsportsNET.com
October 27, 2009
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| Cindy Smith |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – After holding a benefit last year to help offset some of the medical costs for former Mountaineer wrestler Mike Wojcik, Coach Craig Turnbull and the West Virginia wrestling program are ready to help another family in need.
Cindy Smith, a longtime athletic department employee, and her husband, Sam, are faced with substantial medical bills after Sam suffered two strokes last August. As a result, the wrestling program is holding a benefit clinic this Sunday, Nov. 1, from noon to 4 p.m. at the WVU Wrestling Pavilion. The clinic will feature six highly-touted instructors in Cary Kolat, WVU assistant coaches Danny Felix and Greg Jones, Jim Akerly, Drew Headlee and Mark McKnight.
With the rising cost of medical care being a hot-button topic today, Turnbull saw an opportunity to help try and ease the financial pain of the Smith family is presently enduring. With trips to the cardiologist, occupational therapist, optometrist and Sam’s recent heart surgery, Cindy is more than appreciative of the effort that the wrestling program and the entire athletic department have given.
“Coach Turnbull has been a fantastic friend of mine,” Cindy said. “It doesn’t surprise me that he is doing this because he’s always been caring and giving and very easy to work with. But at the same moment, it’s shocking to be in the situation that my husband and I are in and see these people come together. It really is amazing.”
A physically active person, Sam, 44, has worked as a pipe-fitter for several years. Having been free of any serious medical conditions, Sam was two days into his new job at Longview Power when he told his wife that he was feeling ill and would need to be sent to the hospital.
“Sam has wanted to work at Longview since he came back to Morgantown,” Cindy added. “He started working there on a Monday, and Tuesday evening we went to pick some vegetables out of our garden and he didn’t feel well.
“He felt disoriented, light-headed, dazed and confused, so we went to Monongalia General Hospital. It’s disappointing because he was two days in to the job that he really wanted, but in light of things it’s really nothing.”
After visiting with a doctor to find out what was the cause of Sam’s abrupt illness, it was then learned that he had suffered his two strokes. Even more peculiar was that Cindy and Sam found out that he had been living with a condition since birth that he was unaware of.
“We found out when he went to the doctor that he had a hole in his heart that he was born with, and the doctors were certain that it was where the clots were passing through and going to the brain,” Cindy said.
Sam’s condition was learned when a scope was placed down into his esophagus, showing the rather large hole that was located in his heart. His successful surgery on Oct. 23 involved placing a catheter in both his legs and inserting it into his artery to help cover the hole and prevent any more clotting.
As a result of his two strokes, Sam has suffered some vision loss and is not permitted to go back to work or even drive for the foreseeable future. In order to combat this obstacle, the Smiths will be seeing an occupational therapist at Ruby Hospital on Nov. 3.
“It’s been very stressful,” Cindy said of everything that she and her husband have been through. “We’re both very active people, especially him. He loves the outdoors and works full-time on our family farm where we do gardening and those types of things. We’ve been working on our home as well so we’ve been really busy this summer.
“When this happened it was such a shock because he’s only 44 years old. At the same time, we’ve felt very lucky because he didn’t have any paralysis or anything like that.”
Having been an employee at WVU since 1981, Cindy has made her fair share of friends over the years. When many of them caught word of what had happened to Sam, they decided to put together a surprise dinner held earlier this month in the Jerry West Lounge in the WVU Coliseum, with all proceeds benefitting the Smith family.
“My husband and I were shocked and humbled at the same time,” Cindy said when finding out about the dinner. “It was such a kind and generous thing that Anita (Pyles), Joyce (Bucklew), Tammy (Cavender) and Sue (Davis) put together. Of course there were a lot of other people that helped with that – my parents and his parents as well. We were so appreciative of everybody’s input into the dinner and it was such a success and we were so grateful for everyone who put that together.”
For those who wish to attend the Sam and Cindy Smith Benefit Clinic this Sunday at the WVU Wrestling Pavilion, pre-registration is strongly encouraged, with walk-ups also welcomed.
All donations will go directly to the Smith family to help manage medical costs and the loss of income.
For more information regarding the wrestling clinic, please contact assistant coach Greg Jones – (304) 293-9872 or Greg.Jones@mail.wvu.edu.
