Schaumburg comic book store owner helps long-time friend after health setback: 'it gives you hope'

SCHAUMBURG, Ill. - Behind the walls of this mild-mannered Schaumburg business, you will find more than just the superheroes on the pages of these collectible comic books.

Meet Keith Anderson.  

As the owner of Keith’s Komix, he used his powers for good to help a long-time friend and customer.

"It was pretty sad. He was about to lose his house and that shouldn’t happen," said Anderson. 

Anderson and Jeffren Dudley have known each other for decades. They first met when Dudley went to the store looking for a comic book artist who would draw some of his children as superheroes, so they could see themselves in a positive light.

So when Anderson found out last month that Dudley was in some trouble, he sprang into action.

"He’s a trip. He’s the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet," said Anderson. "He always thinks about people before himself."

Over the last few years, Dudley lost two of his children and developed some serious health problems that stopped him from working his two jobs. That’s how he got behind on paying his rent and other bills.

"Emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually – behind everything, but I’m going to make my comeback stronger than my setback," said Dudley.

Dudley worked with the Center for Disability and Elder Law to keep his landlord from evicting him. Together, they were able to come up with $18,000 in rental assistance to cover the $22,000 he was behind in rent.

Since Dudley's attorney says his landlord didn’t want to negotiate the rest of the payments, he was not out of the woods yet.

"So, Mr. Dudley had to come up with a large sum of money in a very short amount of time," said supervising attorney Dana Harbaugh for the Center for Disability and Elder Law. "We had about two weeks to get that payment pulled together."

"Mr. Dudley said I will do anything I can to keep my housing. So let's make that agreement and I’ll try to find this money wherever I can," Harbaugh added.

He didn’t have to look far.

After simply mentioning his situation to Anderson, the money started to roll in.

"We threw in what we could. None of us have an excessive amount of money we can spare, but together we were able to help him," said Anderson.

Scott Beaderstat is one of the many fellow comic book enthusiasts at Komix who didn’t hesitate to help out Dudley.

"Jeff’s a decent guy. Family man. And we all go through our waves where everything is, wonderful, on top of the world and then we get our valleys where we really need help," said Beaderstat. "It's very difficult to ask for help sometimes."

Now, thanks to Anderson, Beaderstat and about 25 other friends, Dudley kept his home and is now debt-free.

"You hear about it.  But when it actually happens to you, it's amazing," said Dudley. "It gives you hope."

Dudley says he is looking forward to getting his health back on track and getting back to work.

Before that can happen, his doctors say he needs a kidney transplant.