Love, Support, Care and Effort on a Global Scale. All for Jen.

Posted on May 11, 2015 at 11:24 am by Jodie / Collaborations / 4 Comments

Well hello Monday!

Ten months ago I met a girl called Jen via Instagram. She commented on a photo of my script and asked if I would create a piece for her. We have been mates ever since. At the time Jen was lying in her hospital bed recovering from her first neurosurgery.

In just under two weeks, Jen will be undergoing her third neurosurgery. Yep, her third in ten months. And she could really use our help.

In 2015, Jen chose “thrive” as her intention for the year. 2014 had been about survival. When she set that intention, she didn’t realize the challenges she would be facing this year.

In July of 2014, Jen underwent ten hours of brain and spine surgery to correct a congenital condition called Chiari Malformation. While the surgery was not intended as a cure for this incurable disease, she did not expect that she would get worse rather than better, nor that her medical bills would exceed $50,000.

On April 17th, Jen learned that the surgery to her spine stretched her tethered spinal cord, causing irreversible damage to the nerves that control her bladder, and her legs. This past weekend, Jen flew to New York for a second opinion at Weill-Cornell, one of the world’s top neurosurgery hospitals and her diganosis was independently confirmed.

On May 19th, Jen is scheduled to undergo surgery in New York, to release her tethered cord. The surgery is not designed to improve the symptoms she lives with daily, like unrelenting leg pain, but to ensure that she is able to walk in the future. As a 23 year old graduate student, she does not have the resources she needs to make this surgery happen and so a few of us have rallied together to help her.

HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Purchase a tee shirt. These American Apparel tees feature my script and can be shipped anywhere in the world. Shirts are available in styles for men, women and children, in a variety of colors. Each shirt features a message of awareness on the back, as well. For those wonderful people over there in America who have already purchased a t-shirt before May the 8th they should arrive prior to Jen’s surgery date of the 19th. We in the southern hemisphere will have to wait a little longer.

Purchase a ‘thrive’ stamp from Kellie Stamps. Kellie Winnell of Kellie Stamps has created a wooden mounted rubber stamp featuring my ‘thrive’ script. All proceeds from the sale of the stamp will benefit my surgery.

Purchase a ‘thrive’ wooden veneer from Color Cast Designs. Featuring the same script, these buttons measure 1.5″ and are great for scrapbooking, Project Life, or your planner. Use “Thrive” at checkout and receive a credit toward the shipping of your entire order.

Purchase a digital product from the Thrive Etsy Store which features 8×10 and 5×7 print options, as well as a variety of Project Life products. Every cent of each digital purchase goes directly to my surgery costs and you will receive an instant download for the file of your choice. Contributors include Laurel Lane Designs, Artful Leigh Creative, Alex Hunter Designs and Cindy Backstrom.

Purchase an 8×10 fine art print of the New York City Skyline by Olya Schmidt of Paint Paper Studio. Olya created this painting as a tribute to the city where I will be having surgery. The watercolor also features shades of purple, the awareness color for chiari malformation. Her painting is reproduced as a press print on fine art paper.

Purchase from Stella & Dot and 25% of every sale will be donated.

There are so many ways you can help. A massive thank you to all the girls above for their contributions to helping Jen. The support has been fantastic to date. We just need one final push to get her over the line.

I love this creative community for so, so many reasons. But when love, support, care and effort is shown for others on a global scale like this it just makes my heart explode with gratitude and appreciation for you all.