“Gilligan’s Island” star Dawn Wells certainly isn’t being cast away by her friends and fans in her time of financial difficulty.
Wells, who played Mary Ann Summers on the iconic sitcom, reacted Wednesday to the support she’s received thanks to a GoFundMe campaign launched on her behalf, saying that she’s “amazed at the kindness and affection I have received” and adding, “please know that my outlook is positive.”
The GoFundMe campaign, launched by Dugg Kirkpatrick — who describes Wells as his “dearest friend” — has of this writing raised more than $58,000 out of its $180,000 goal.
The campaign, launched Aug. 27, states that, after 2008, Wells “suffered through the banking crash and lost everything including her life savings in addition, to a life-threatening surgery which came close to killing her.”
According to the campaign, Wells “was a victim of an unexpected accident that required hospitalization for two months and a very long time to rest and heal,” and “needs $194,000 to alleviate penalties by the IRS (which are compounded daily) and to pay her hospital costs.”
In her Facebook post, Wells said that Kirkpatrick started the campaign “with the love an emotion like someone protecting their child.”
“In a recent conversation with him I remarked Where did the time go? I don’t know how this happened. I thought I was taking all the proper steps to ensure my golden years. Now, here I am, no family, no husband, no kids and no money,” Wells, 79, added.
Read Wells’ message below.