Making Ends Meet: Sweets for Samuel

WOOSTER -- The parents of 4-year-old Samuel Waddell call him their "$200,000 baby."

In June of 2007, as Jennifer and Matthew Waddell had just welcomed their second child Jacob into the world, there came some frightening news about their first son.

Samuel, then 3, had been born with a dermoid cyst. They are typically benign and can be found on or below the skin's surface.

But Samuel's was a rare type of dermoid cyst that stretched from the lining of his brain into his nasal cavity. Troubling MRI's and CAT scans showed that the cyst needed to come out.

Two months later, Samuel underwent a grueling 15 hour surgery, during which doctors removed a portion of his skull to get at the cyst. It had also eaten away the bone that made up the bridge of the toddler's nose.

Using wire mesh, packing and skin grafts, surgeons rebuilt Samuel's nose. Only time will tell if the bone does regenerate and grows again.

The surgery and recovery was painful, but soon Samuel had returned to his playful self. Doctors told the Waddells Samuel would likely lose his sense of smell.

But the toddler surprised his family on a car trip in the country by proclaiming that he could indeed smell "stinky cow poop."

With Samuel's health now on the right track, Jennifer and Matthew Waddell had to come up with a way to repay those staggering medical bills.

The family had health insurance, but their coverage for Samuel was exhausted by the time he underwent surgery. The operation alone cost the family $170,000.

Jennifer remembers a feeling of despair when opening those first bills.

"How am I going to pay for this? You know I can't go and have somebody else pay my bill? It's like this is my responsibility," Jennifer says.

Matthew Waddell is a chef, and works long days, sometimes as long as 12 to 15 hours. Getting a second job was not possible for him. Jennifer needed to be home for Matthew, whose recovery was going well, but he was still taking medication and needed extra attention.

Jennifer Waddell is also a trained chef, having graduated from the Pennsylvania Culinary Institute. Her specialty is in pastry arts. So, during her children's naps and while they slept at night, Jennifer did what she knew how -- she baked.

Jennifer baked cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, breads, muffins and sweet rolls. She named her pastry business "Sweets for Samuel," so that she could share her son's story with customers. The money she would take in would go towards Samuel's medical bills.

Jennifer started small by passing out flyers in the neighborhoods of family and friends. Some people were receptive, but Jennifer remembers one not-so-pleasant encounter.

"I had a lady shut the door in my face and say that I was this con artist. I just broke down in tears," she recalled.

But soon, through the help of some caring community members, Sweets for Samuel got a short write-up in the Akron Beacon Journal.

"I think 90 percent of my calls came from that Wednesday, two paragraph line and it was just overwhelming actually," she says.

Now, Jennifer finds that she has steady business through the holidays. The winter months though, are a little slow. But she's grateful to everyone who has reached out to her family, and shared the news of her business.

"The outreach of everybody, they just love to hear the story. And even if somebody says, 'I can't order anything. But I know somebody who might need this cake' and they pass the word on. And then we get an order, and it's just a domino effect. Everybody says, 'Oh, I had your cake at this party.' And it's so fun when we do birthday cakes, wedding cakes and they know that they are helping for a good cause," she says.

Jennifer hopes one day to open her own bakery shop, and to use the money that she brings in to give back to her community. For others who are also having trouble making ends meet, Jennifer encourages them to look at your own talents.

"Anybody can. It doesn't have to be pastries. It can be with anything. And it is such a good sense of pride to overcome such a difficult time in your life, and do something good," she says.

The Waddells have started a website where you can read more of Samuel's story and take a look at all the pastries Jennifer makes. She does do deliveries, but within certain distances from her home. You can read more and contact Jennifer through site.

Click on the Sweets for Samuel link.