GoFundMe launched to help WAPL-FM's Rick McNeal as he faces new challenges in his recovery
APPLETON- As longtime WAPL-FM morning show co-host Rick McNeal continues to recover from medical issues amid new challenges, a GoFundMe has been established to help get him back on his feet.
McNeal has been absent from “The Rick and Cutter Show” since mid-March after falling in his apartment and developing cellulitis, a painful bacterial infection, and a blood clot in his left leg. He spent nine days in the hospital before being moved to a rehabilitation facility.
In an update to listeners on the show’s Facebook page in mid-April, McNeal reported that he had been able to stand on his infected leg for the first time without assistance, but there have since been setbacks and financial hurdles.
In the GoFundMe launched Wednesday by friend Amy Sterken, she writes:
“He was on the road to recovery and able to walk a few feet when an antibiotic he was on caused kidney failure. While recovering from that, the muscle mass in his legs that enabled him to walk, degenerated. This put him back at square one.
“It has been a struggle to start standing again, and I hope that he will be walking again before too long. However, the insurance company and Medicare have deemed his progress too slow and discontinued coverage. He is now on the hook for $7,500 out of pocket before the end of the week and another $11,000 before the end of the month. At this rate, another $11,000 at the end of next month.
Without this continued therapy, he is likely to never walk again.”
More than $11,000 of the $45,000 goal had been raised by Thursday morning.
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In a post on “The Rick and Cutter Show’s” Facebook page on Wednesday, co-host Cutter asked listeners of the classic rock station to help out however they can.
“I just talked to Rick and it’s time for all of us to come together and help the man who’s helped us time and time again,” he wrote. “He’s done more for this community than he probably knows, now it’s time for this community to support him. Even if it’s just a little bit, I’m begging let’s do this for Rick.”
McNeal and his sense of humor have been a fixture at WAPL for nearly 40 years, including more than 30 with former co-host Len Nelson. There has been a flood of support for him over the last three months.
"People love Rick, and even if you don't love him, you still kind of love him," Cutter told the Green Bay Press-Gazette. "He has a way of words. He's one of the best writers I've ever met in my life. But people miss him, and I miss him. I think at the end of the day, this isn't about telling jokes on a radio station, this is about his life, and people want to help. It's awesome to see the outpouring of love for him."
When the idea of a GoFundMe was first proposed, McNeal said he worried people might think he was "some kind of beggar," but then he thought of the countless times he has been a part of fundraisers and benefits on air at WAPL for people in need. He never viewed those people that way.
"It's so gratifying, looking down the list of people who have already donated and seeing the names of friends, old and new, as well as listeners to whom I've become acquainted over the years," McNeal said in a message to the Press-Gazette. "It's perhaps even more gratifying to see name after name that I don't recognize of people I've never met who felt strongly enough to donate money to help the disembodied voice on the radio."
Earlier this month, McNeal shared a photo of himself with a smile on the radio show's Facebook page with the caption: "Proof of life photo. Contrary to what may have heard or hoped I am still alive if not kicking."
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or [email protected]. Follow her on X @KendraMeinert.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: As WAPL-FM's Rick McNeal deals with medical setbacks, GoFundMe set up