WALWORTH COUNTY, Wis. — Days after Sam Schaefer learned her husband would be unable to work for several months because of surgery, a fire tore through their barn near Sharon and killed several sheep.
The barn fire happened on Feb. 27. No one was hurt, but Schaefer says fourteen sheep died, including one which was only four days old.
"This is more than me and my family can handle right now," Schaefer said. "Me and my husband both spent time on local fire departments, so we'd been to other people's barn fires on their worst days. For you to live that moment yourself is something you will never get out of your head."
The Schaefers learned they would be in a financial bind days before their barn was destroyed. Sam's husband Kevin was selected for a bone marrow transplant to treat his chronic granulomatous disease (CGD).
Watch: Walworth County livestock farmers in financial crisis after sheep barn fire
While Kevin's surgery is paid for by the National Institute of Health, he will not be able to work for several months after the transplant.
"We're going to lose 30 percent of his income, plus his side job," Sam Schaefer said. "We went from, 'your stepdad is leaving for four to six months' to our worst nightmare."
Schaefer's neighbor and friend Christina Johnson decided to set up a GoFundMe fundraiser so people could help the family overcome the financial and emotional crisis.
"We lost about 30 sheep ourselves in a barn fire, so we definitely know what they're going through," Johnson said. "They deserve to have it repaid as much as anybody."
"When we finally clean this up and rebuild, we have an entire community backing us," Schaefer said.
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