Dear Friends and family, 

It is with a loving and hopeful heart that I write this to all of you.  I would really love your support in this if you could because it could be any one of us or someone that we know.   As some of you know, my friend of 20 years, Nancy Stapp (from Fountain Valley), is in the ICU at Hoag Hospital. Some of you may remember her from Emily and Grace’s birthday parties. 

On September 17th, she was having a normal day at home when she got violently ill with dizziness, a bad headache and vomiting. She was taken to the hospital to find out she had a brain aneurysm and bleeding in the back of the brain. She is still in ICU! She has had surgeries, procedures, successes, and significant set backs. 

She is just like some of us - she has a six year old and a six month old and was healthy up until this. I am sure you could imagine the emotional, physical, and financial impact this is having on her family. It is really unbearable to watch.     

Joel (Nancy’s husband) is doing great considering the circumstances! He is trying to keep the kid's lives normal and Sydney has been at school every single day.  Meanwhile, he is at the hospital every single day. I know that when Nancy was conscience, she felt guilty and bad for what her kids and Joel were going through.  

Nancy is not able to communicate at this time as she is on a ventilator and also a feeding tube.  She is in and out of consciousness.  On good days she can communicate with a thumbs up for yes and thumbs down for no.  Most days she is unable to open her eyes.  To see friend go through this is truly life changing and unbearable.   

I think of my own husband and children and what I would feel if I were faced with this.  It makes me love my family even more and puts everything into perspective.  Nancy is a fighter and a very strong woman.  A warrior of sorts.  We know she will get through this.  The doctors are saying it is a long and slow process and we are looking at 6 months to a year.  After she is able to get out of the hospital, she will still have to endure rehabilitation to relearn how to walk and maybe many other things.  We just don’t know yet  

So, I am emailing you for the possibility of additional support. If you are the praying type, please add her to your prayers. If you think you can donate a few dollars, that would be great too! Between being on a limited disability income, not working since he is at the hospital, and seeing the medical bills already coming in, our friend Joel has finally said that he could use some financial help.  

I am setting up several fundraisers for the Stapp family in hopes that we can raise some funds to ease their financial burden.  I have set up a website at http://rockinstappfamily.googlepages.com/ for everyone to be able to check on her progress and check on current fundraisers.  Besides the fundraisers, Joel has mentioned he could always use grocery store cards (diapers, formula and wipes are expensive), Wal-Mart, Target and gas cards.  We are also looking for boy’s clothing in size 9 months and up.  Some of the fundraisers that are coming up are:  boutique, dinner and raffle, and T-shirt sale.  If you know of anyone that has an at-home business or makes handmade crafts, please have them contact me.     

Thank you so much for the consideration. I completely understand if now is not a good time for you to help out.  If you are unable to help at this time, please say a little prayer for Nancy.  The more prayers, the better! 

Please forward this email to your friends and family too!  We can always use the additional help!  It’s amazing what we can do if we band together! 

Love and friendship,

Cheryl Perrin

MOMS Club of Placentia North

Around Town Column – Placentia News

714-875-1504 

P.S. If you are a business or organization, please feel free to post the attached flyer.