Dear Friends,

My name is Becky Oehlers, and I am good friends with Jenn and Steve, as well as Sophia and Nina's voice teacher. I am sure if you are reading this, their family has touched your lives, whether it be through theater, design, music, Jenn's advocacy work on behalf of vision safety, or through Haddon Twp. Schools.

Our friends are in serious need of our support and care at this time. Jenn is in a battle for her health currently (12 years to the day after her devastating eye injury), and will require a lengthy and costly hospital stay. This burden is too heavy to bear alone, and I asked them if I could create this page to support them through this time. With Steve having to miss work, Sophia headed to college, and everyday expenses having to be met, I have kept the initial goal low. This way, they can access the funds early as bills start to roll in, but know that this is not the need. The need will be greater. So please share this as much as you can so we can cast a wide net and be there for this wonderful family.

From Steve:

It all started 7/1, a few days after the graduation party at our house for Sophia. There was a few weeks of cleanup/preparation at the house to make that happen. First it seemed as if she pulled her back out, or maybe pinched nerve or sciatica. The pain quickly became unbearable, and she was unable to walk on her own, or even get comfortable or sleep. The Dr. then called in a muscle relaxer, and things would get progressively worse. After a bad reaction to flexoril, and the development of some other issues, she became extremely weak and could no longer stand. It was time to go to the hospital, which has been a bit of a blur. She has not been out of the bed since we got into the hospital, and it was revealed that she has developed a staph infection in her blood. The infectious disease specialist told us it was concerning, and with the course of treatment of antibiotics, she will be in the hospital for a minimum of two weeks, possibly up to four weeks. And that is as long as there are no other complications. Due to the urgency and severity of what has been happening to Jenn, I have not really left her side and since 7/1 have not really been able to work up to this point. I am now making arrangements to get back to delivering several pieces, and completing several jobs which were due to be completed in the last week and this week, two of which are in North Carolina. There are compound set of issues here, the main one being that we are not sufficiently covered to deal with a health crisis such as this.