An online fundraising campaign has been established to support mounting medical bills and family expenses as broadcaster Art Hains battles serious complications of the West Nile Virus.
The goal of the GoFundMe page, is to raise $250,000.
Hains, the longtime play-by-play man for Missouri State University sports, as well as game-day host for the Kansas City Chiefs Radio Network, first became ill Sept. 17 while announcing the Bears football game vs. Arkansas.
His condition quickly deteriorated and he was hospitalized at CoxHealth in Springfield, before being moved to the University of Kansas Medical Center, where he was diagnosed with West Nile. In Hains’ case, doctors believe West Nile has caused flaccid paralysis.
As expenses mount, family friend Rob Fulp has established a GoFundMe account with donations going to Chris Hains, son of the broadcaster, to help cover medical expenses not covered by insurance, as well as unexpected family expenses.
Fulp, who is chairman of the CoxHealth Board of Directors, is a longtime Springfield banker and now executive in residence in the College of Business at Missouri State.
In encouraging people to support the fundraising campaign, Fulp said: “Art is not just ‘The Voice of the Bears.' He is a wonderful person. We love him and want the entire region to support him!”
As explained on the GoFundMe page, Hains is expected to be transferred soon to Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska.
“The hospital is one of 3 accredited long-term acute care hospitals that has a combined/specialty in spinal cord rehab,” according to the GoFundMe page. “Representatives from Madonna met with the Hains family and said they would accept Art. The hospital has seen conditions like Art’s and helped to get people their lives back.”
A native of Marshall, Mo., Hains first began broadcasting in Springfield at the age of 21 in 1977. Other than a four-year stint in Dallas, he has called Bears games ever since.
He was elected to the Springfield Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2003, Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and Missouri State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2022. He and his wife, Lisa, have two children: Chris and Kathleen.
