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Family navigating job loss, terminal disease gets ‘Little Wish’ at just the right time

Marty Sims is battling ALS with grit and grace, but a ‘Little Wish’ delivers an extra dose of hope.

DALLAS — This content is sponsored by Sam Pack Auto Group.

Marty Sims is an adoring father, beloved husband and admired uncle.

He is 100 percent family man and fighter.

“I don’t understand how he does it,” Marty’s niece Zoe Lyons said. “I feel like we should be the ones comforting him but honestly he’s always the one comforting us.”

Marty was diagnosed with ALS in 2016. Often called Lou Gherig’s disease, ALS is a neourodegenerative disease that slowly affects a person’s nerve cells and spinal cord.

Tasks that were once easy to accomplish become difficult to perform.

Lyons and her family moved in with the Sims family to help care for Marty as his ALS progressed.

“When he first got diagnosed, he could still walk and talk and do a lot of things. And now he is in a wheelchair,” Zoe said. “He can’t go to the bathroom without help. He can’t get in his bed without someone lifting him, carrying him, and putting him in his bed.”

“But he never thinks about the bad things. He only thinks the good things,” she said. “That’s what honestly inspires me, because I always look at the bad things.”

Credit: Sims Family
Marty Sims and family.

Zoe worked with Marty’s children to nominate him for a Little Wish, a program that helps families in need of a helping hand.

During the COVID-19 pandemic outsiders cannot come inside their home, because Marty is compromised. So WFAA needed Zoe’s help to deliver the surprise.

She connected us virtually through a Zoom video call.

Marty listened closely as Zoe read him this letter:

“Dear Marty, We’ve all had times when we just can’t catch a break. And in those moments, we need help from family, friends and neighbors to help us out. Sam Pack Auto Group is a proud member of the North Texas community.”

“Your friends at Sam Pack heard about your story and will be providing you and your family with a $2,000 Kroger gift card and a $2,000 Walmart gift card. We are excited to grant you this Little Wish!”

Marty couldn’t hide his emotion.

Credit: WFAA
Marty Sims wiped away tears as he learned he was receiving a Little Wish.

“God bless you,” he said through tears. “God bless you.”

Pausing to use a trilogy ventilator machine to help catch his breath, he described how difficult life has been during the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s been rough economically on our family because my wife got let go from two jobs because of COVID,” he said. “We’re doing what we can to get by.”

“If it’s possible to have a silver lining in all this, it’s that I got to see my family and my children more because they weren’t in school. I never realized what a blessing that was.”

Marty said he refuses to give up hope, and that’s what inspires the rest of his family, Zoe said.

He also refuses to give up his sense of humor.

“You’ve just been migrated to best niece status as far as I’m concerned,” he said to her, laughing. “And WFAA is now my favorite channel.”

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