Guest Family Profile: The Sampson Family

Story by Michelle Baldanza Photos by Cherl Sampson

NAME: Jeff & Cherl Sampson

HOUSE: St. Louis VA Medical Center Fisher House St. Louis, Missouri

HOME STATE: Alba, Missouri

MILITARY BRANCH: Navy

Cherl Sampson clutched her steering wheel as she tried to see through the blinding January snow in 2019. She had just checked her husband, Navy and Vietnam veteran Jeff Sampson, into the Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis, Missouri to prepare for a double-lung transplant and was now headed to a place for her to rest: the St. Louis VA Medical Center Fisher House.

Jeff 's lungs had been slowly degrading for months and were functioning at just 17 percent of normal capacity. Jeff was placed on a double-lung transplant list.

When they learned a transplant had become available on January 10, Cherl and Jeff jumped in the car and drove from their home in Alba, Missouri to St. Louis. The weather hadn’t been bad when they arrived, but by the time Jeff was settled and it was time for Cherl to drive to the Fisher House, the clouds had turned into a snowstorm.

With no cell phone signal and no GPS, Cherl became disoriented and lost. A small miracle came when her signal came back with just minutes left on her battery. She quickly called the local Fisher House manager, Vanniecia Brown, who went out into the storm to find her and led her to the doors of Fisher House.

“I call Vanniecia my angel for finding me. She was the only one I could call. My phone totally went dead”, said Cherl. “I was nervous of course, because I didn't know anybody. I didn't know what this was, what the place was going to be like. I was nervous for his surgery, everything. But when I got there, the people just opened their arms.”

“That meant the world to me. I went ahead and had my surgery,” said Jeff. “My wife was back and forth every day, but she was staying at the Fisher House and when I got out after 10 days, I went to the Fisher House. It was a place to stay, but then the longer I was there, it was like home — home away from home.”

The Sampson became close friends with other guests during their stay at Fisher House.

Due to the nature of his surgery, it was important that Jeff ’s recovery was in a very clean location.

“The staff was incredibly nice. I just can't say enough good things. The place was clean. Just having a double-lung transplant, I had to worry about germs and people breathing on me. I had to be extra careful,” explained Jeff. “Everybody had to be healthy there. I didn't have to worry about any kind of infection, any kind of sickness, because I knew everybody was healthy.”

Jeff described how volunteers would come in once a month on Tuesdays and make tacos and certain volunteers would make “the best meatloaf I ever ate in my life” on the first Monday of the month. He went so far as scheduling his first annual follow up on a Monday to make sure he didn’t miss an opportunity to have that meatloaf again.

Clockwise from top: The Sampson became close friends with other guests during their stay at Fisher House. Guests enjoy a meal in the dining room with Cherl and Jeff Sampson. Volunteers at the St. Louis Fisher House cook meals for guests.

He also remarked on the savings from his stay.

“If I had to stay in a motel or eat out, it would have cost me a minimum of probably $5,000,” said Jeff, “but everything at the Fisher House was free, and the people that we met were awesome.”

Guests enjoy a meal in the dining room with Cherl and Jeff Sampson.

The couple formed relationships with other guests and have even traveled to visit them since their stay. Guests Wanda Pierson and her son, Brad Reimer, were staying at the house while Brad was being treated after a diving accident left him paralyzed from the waist down.

“He is one awesome guy. Awesome sense of humor,” Jeff said of Brad. “We just got along. We clicked and had a great time.”

“You go in there as strangers, but you definitely, definitely leave as friends. Good friends,” said Cherl. “It's just an amazing experience.”

In Jeff ’s words, he has been an overachiever ever since the surgery. His first Pulmonary Function Test, an assessment of how well lungs function, was only one week after surgery and was around 60 percent. A week later it jumped to 97 percent of what would be expected for a healthy man of Jeff 's age and demographics, and it has been over 100 percent ever since.

Jeff returned for his annual appointment in July and received a clean bill of health. When asked if he feels comfortable staying at the Fisher House during the COVID-19 pandemic, he said “I actually feel more comfortable there than I would anywhere else. I'd be just as comfortable there as I am in my own living room.”

“It was like staying in the best hotel that I could think of, but there were always people there, and so that made it better. You're never alone,” said Jeff.

Clockwise from top: The Sampson became close friends with other guests during their stay at Fisher House. Guests enjoy a meal in the dining room with Cherl and Jeff Sampson. Volunteers at the St. Louis Fisher House cook meals for guests.