A Teacher In Need

On October 13, Timothy Murdock’s life changed forever when he sustained a devastating spinal cord injury. After two major surgeries, this vibrant 25-year-old Howard County 8th Grade history teacher and high school wrestling coach remains paralyzed from his chest down. He is currently undergoing inpatient rehabilitation at a local hospital, and will continue as an outpatient in rehabilitation until he reaches his new level of normalcy.

His primary motivation throughout his fight has been to return to the classroom at the beginning of the next school year.

Tim was raised in a military family which settled in Maryland in 1996. He was a National Honor Society student and athletic letterman at Wilde Lake High School, graduating in 2004. He continued his education at the University of Maryland at College Park where he was awarded his Bachelor of Arts degree in History in 2008. With aspirations to teach, Tim immediately enrolled in the Johns Hopkins University Masters in Education program, earning his degree in 2009. Tim joined the faculty at Elkridge Landing Middle School at the start of the 2009-2010 school year. He was beginning his third year of teaching when this injury occurred. Tim is well respected throughout the community and is an outstanding teacher. For the first two months of this school year, his students voted him Teacher of the Month.

To best illustrate Tim’s love for his students and teaching here are some of his students’ own words: “I feel like I could’ve gone to him with anything.” “He’s really nice and helps us out when we need help.” “He is an amazing teacher.” “He is a great teacher.” “He’s awesome, nice and cool.” “He always got us to do our work but in a fun way.”

Tim has a long struggle ahead. He will continue to need the strength and support of his friends and community throughout this challenge. One way in which we can all help is to contribute to making Tim’s home accessible and his medical costs less of a burden. To this end, a fundraising campaign in Tim’s honor has been established with HelpHOPELive (formerly NTAF), a nonprofit organization that has been assisting the transplant community for nearly 30 years.

In 2000, they expanded their mission to include those who have sustained a catastrophic injury. All contributions are tax deductible, are held by HelpHOPELive in the Mid-Atlantic Spinal Cord Injury Fund, and are administered by HelpHOPELive for injury-related expenses only. Please consider making a donation: Make checks payable to: HelpHOPELive Note in memo section:

In honor of Tim Murdock Please mail to: HelpHOPELive 150 N. Radnor Chester Road, Suite F-120 Radnor, PA 19087 For credit card contributions, please call 800.642.8399 or visit http://www.helphopelive.org/find-a-patient/profile/index.cfm/patient/61CDA299-F4F1-082C-753C0C36F411F217 

Any gift, large or small will be most appreciated. By helping to alleviate this financial burden, we can give Tim the chance to concentrate all his energy on healing so he is prepared to return to his students at the beginning of the next school year.

Thank you,
Susan Williams
Chair of the Fundraising Committee

Contributions are tax deductible to the extent allowed by the law. This campaign is administered by HelpHOPELive (National Transplant Assistance Fund, Inc.), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing fundraising assistance to transplant and catastrophic injury patients.