#SaveDave: Help Native Chicagoan David Schwartz and His Family Make a Comeback with a Donation

Let us unite together to help raise money for David Schwartz and his family. David is a loving father, husband, and grandfather, and has had some medical setbacks the last few weeks. Learn more about their story and how you can help from Jason Schwartz, his son.

My Name is Jason Schwartz, born and raised in Chicago courtesy of my loving parents Bonnie and David Schwartz. I’ve lived here for thirty years and would do anything for this city – no better place than Chicago! My dad, David, would echo the exact same thing. Unfortunately, he’s gravely ill and on life support at only 62-years-old.

The week of this past Super Bowl, my Dad started getting drastically ill. He however was terrified to go to any doctors since having a sudden heart attack in 2011 for fear of something being wrong. My mom, brother, and fiancée all pleaded him to go to the doctor, and he finally said he would go the day after the Super Bowl because he wanted to watch the big game with us.

However, we had seen enough by then; he looked like he could die at any time and we were all terrified. He couldn’t breathe and was slurring his words, most likely suffering a stroke. We called 911 and it took twelve grown men to get him to agree to go into the ambulance.

We finally got to the hospital but once there, his health took a serious decline. That was three weeks ago. That was the last time I’ve had a conversation with my best friend. The doctors had to put him into a coma for almost three weeks to help his body try to recover.

As of this writing, he has received a tracheotomy and is somewhat awake, but totally non-functional and on every kind of life support possible. He receives dialysis almost daily and has been described as having multiple organ failure.

My parents have been married for almost 44 years, practically tied at the hip. With everything horrible going on with my dad, my mom is also suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, a recurring issue that basically makes it difficult for her to talk or eat. Because of that, she had to leave her job at a market research firm. She and my dad were both in separate ICU rooms at the same hospital at the same time.

My parents signed up for health insurance, but it doesn’t cover a lot. There are a lot of other bills that our family is having difficulty paying because of our situation.

My cousin, Melissa, started a GiveForward fundraiser to help us as we face this long and unsure road to recovery. You can find the link here: https://www.giveforward.com/fundraiser/hm14/team-david-schwartz.

Your donation today means more to us than you will ever know. Please help a native Chicagoan make a comeback like no other. God bless you all.

#SaveDave

We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.
– Winston Churchill