CLARENCE, N.Y. -- A former teacher is getting some much-needed help from the students he left an impact on.
Robert Keil suffered a major stroke that has reduced his ability to look after his wife, who also suffers from chronic health problems.
Robert Keil, known to many as "Mike", was a teacher for more than three decades. He started at Chautauqua Institution, but spent the majority of his career teaching at Clarence High School.
During that time, former students say he was always honest and open about his wife's severe battle with Crohn's disease, a chronic inflammatory bowel disease that affects the lining of the digestive tract.
He continued teaching even through her liver transplant in the 1990's.
Their friend created a GoFundMe page to try and alleviate the mounting debt of medical bills, and when former students learned of the page, they made sure it made the rounds online.
Friends and former students even went as far as to make an emotional video to explain why helping Robert Keil is a worthy cause. As of Sunday night, generous donors raised more than $54,000 toward the family's $200,000 goal.
"It uplifts us a bit, and makes us think that maybe we can get beyond the economic issues related to all of this, and it gives us hope," said Joshua Keil, one of Robert's two sons.
Watch the video above for more to see photos shared from former students throughout the years, and if you'd like to help the Keils, visit their GoFundMe page here.