Help and Love for Jenna

There is nothing quite like the love you have for your nieces and nephews.  And these aunts and uncles love fiercely! Jenna is our niece and she just turned 15.  She has a HUGE heart and a love of people and animals that is amazing.  Jenna’s life started in Ft. Campbell, KY.  Her mom delivered without dad…as he was deployed to Iraq.  Dad got the phone call and to this day remembers how is heart felt bursting and breaking in the same moment.  But he knew serving our country was what he was supposed to be doing and he did it perfectly.   A short time later, Jenna was diagnosed with failure to thrive.  She was a tiny little dark hair baby.  Her development seemed a bit behind but not extreme.  As the years passed and her family moved back home, she seemed to catch up to what she needed to and was going to be a big sister to a new baby brother.  Oh she loved that baby brother!  At 2 years old baby brother was diagnosed with the awful cancer…Leukemia.  He fought so hard for one year….and ended his battle returning to Heaven.  As a big sister….this was awful.  Remember Jenna’s Huge heart?!  I will NEVER forget the day I watched her literally crumble and sob when he left them.  Life was hard….and recovering from the year of stress, and loss seemed to be painful.  Jenna lived with her mom and older brother and spent time with dad often.  About 18 months after her baby brother passed away, her sweet momma was taken in a car accident…..it was horribly tragic.  I couldn’t believe (and still can’t) that these sweet kids had to endure another horrific loss.  Jenna was 7 at this time.  Jenna and her big brother now live with Dad and they started putting life back together one day at a time.   Fast forward to where we are now, Jenna has shown signs of severe anxiety and depression….and Autism.  Although she had only been diagnosed ADHD at the time….things just seemed to be so difficult for her.  She has had counseling for grief and loss and seemed as though it was helping her navigate the tragedy of her short life.  But things have escalated.  About a month ago Jenna came to stay with me (her Aunt).  Things were getting so hard for her and we felt that maybe since I am a stay at home momma and could surround Jenna with cousins and supervision…perhaps she would settle down and we would be able to figure out how to help her best.  She seemed to be doing good….and responding to the change well.  But we didn’t see the suicidal thoughts and actions coming.  She was admitted to the University of Utah for acute treatment to make sure she was safe.  We, in the meantime, found an inpatient program that seemed to be perfect for her and what she needed.  While at the U of U.  the testing for the official autism diagnosis began.  The inpatient program we have enrolled her in is continuing that testing as well as learning Jenna and the things she needs to have success.    The inpatient program we found feels absolutely perfect.  However, the cost of the program is high….it is unreachable for the time frame we need to have her in it.  We are looking to help our brother cover at least 30k of the costs.  Which is a very small portion of what we need but will help her for another month or two.  If you can help in any amount I know it would be so helpful.  And if you can share this with your friends…..we would appreciate it so much.  We love our niece and our brother….we will do all we can to help them as they seem to have given so much already in their lives.  Family is the most important thing we have and we are united to help our family.  We thank you all for the support!