The story of Terry Scovell sounds like a bad country-western song. Over the years the 69-year-old Vietnam veteran from Ninilchik has survived a neck tumor wrapped around his spine, a five-way heart bypass, a brain aneurysm and a stroke. To top it off, while recovering in Anchorage from surgery to put a metal plate in his neck, someone stole about $600 gallons of fuel oil and firewood from his home and tried to break in. A cold snap caused pipes to burst, flooding the house and causing about $5,000 in damages.

“He’s had a really, really bad year, and it’s only February,” said his daughter, Akalina Scovell, in a phone interview from Oregon.

Akaline Scovell has started a fundraise through the Go Fund Me website. She seeks to raise $7,000 to get her dad and his wife, Teece Scovell, back on their feet.

“I’m hoping we can get people to pitch in and do something for them,” Akalina Scovell said.

Her dad served in Vietnam with the U.S. Navy and suffered exposure to Agent Orange, the defoliant dropped in jungles as a strategy to make it harder for Viet Cong to hide. Scovell worked for Reynolds Metals for 20 years before retiring. He and his wife both live on disability and retirement benefits. A big, burly guy who worked a life of heavy labor, Scovell had been the one to chop wood and make repairs, but his recent neck surgery means he can’t do any heavy lifting.

Akalina Scovell said her dad has suspicions about who robbed them, but because he’s religious, didn’t report the theft to Alaska State Troopers. A new Facebook page, Anchor Point Neighborhood Watch, mentions the Scovell theft and Go Fund Me effort.

To donate to the Scovells’ Go Fund Me effort, visit https://www.gofundme.com/help-my-parents-out-of-a-rut.