Help Penny & Bob Rice with Medical Expenses

Please donate to help support Penny and Bob during her recovery.

This fundraiser rose out of the efforts of Penny's many friends.  

Update, December 30, 2021:  This update was provided by Bob - Penny is adjusting well to her post hospital digs at Nehalem Valley Care Center (NVCC & the home),  https://nehalemcarecenter.com, in Wheeler Oregon.  I’m home in Cannon Beach 18 miles north of Wheeler and able to visit everyday except for 2 horrendous snow and ice days.  On Thursday, December 23, 2021, Penny was transported, on a stretcher, from Providence St. Vincent Hospital in Portland 80 miles to NVCC via U.S. Hwy 26 and Oregon State Hwy 53.  She is there for skilled nursing (food tube stuff, and special medicines), Physical Therapy, Occupational Therapy, and Speech Therapy.  Yesterday, I pushed Penny around “the home” in a wheel chair and she got to meet some of the other patients.  Today, Penny had her most active day post aneurysm.  From a wheel chair, she peddled a sorta stationary bike machine, walked about 40Ft holding on to railings and guided by Dean the PT.  Amber the OT got her back to the machine this time hand and arms doing the same things that her legs and feet did earlier on the same machine.   She then remained in the wheel chair for another hour for a total of about 2-3 hours. That was huge. I’m smiling as I type this. Just as huge, she had her first visitors. Yes, you can come visit her. There is covid screening. Long time friends Tim and Kathy Teague visited for about 45mins.  We sat in the large multipurpose room at a round table by a large window. It was very nice and Penn was very happy.  Thanks for being large part of our journey. Your powerful shots of love helped her go on and me… …I couldn’t have done it, thus far, without you.  Please continue. We need it.  Wow, and I’m not kidding, the playlist I’m listening to randomly (yeah right) just started “All You Need Is Love.”

Update, December 12, 2021:  Thank you to all of the friends and family who have given to this GoFundMe and who have been sending kind thoughts and  loving wishes.  Bob has asked me to send his love and appreciation to all of you.  A brief update about Penny - Penny was moved from the Neuro Critical Care Unit (NCCU) to a regular hospital bed on 12/8.  She continues to have difficulty with walking and swallowing, but is having animated (if not always clear) conversations with Bob and her care team.  It is hoped that she can be moved to a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility closer to home sometime soon.  We reached our initial fund raising goal of $10,000 quickly and are hoping we can continue to help Bob and Penny with financial support for at least a portion of the expenses they will face.  Therefore, we are increasing our goal to $25,000.  Please share this GoFundMe request on your social media and let us see if we can reach this new goal together.

On November 17, our friend, Penny, suffered a severe bleed in her brain from a ruptured aneurysm.  She was life-flighted to St. Vincent Hospital in Portland for emergency surgery. Penny came through the surgery and is recovering, though she remains in the intensive care unit at this time.  It is expected that she will be in the hospital for 3-4 weeks, at least.  Her recovery is a rollercoaster, with many ups and downs, and it will be a very long process.  She continues to need many expensive tests and will also need physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, and . . . .

 

Of course, this is a huge stress and challenge for Bob, too, who is staying in a small apartment near the hospital, which is offered to a patient's family at a more affordable price.  Bob will be her primary caregiver when she eventually returns home.

 

Despite good insurance, the housing, co-pays, deductibles, and other out-of-pocket costs will most certainly be staggering.  In hope of reducing one of the stresses that they will be facing, many friends of Penny and Bob thought that a GoFundMe to help with some of these expenses would be a good idea.

 

For those of you who might not know Penny and Bob, they moved to Cannon Beach after retirement in 2015.  Penny is a happy, sweet, gentle soul who loves her garden, loves dogs, loves Cannon Beach, and of course loves Bob.  "Bobcat" Bob has been entertaining us in multiple venues around town for several years, playing his guitar with skill and finesse and singing old and new covers and the occasional original tune with the group Thistle and Rose and as a solo performer.

 

Penny and Bob know that we are sending all the love, prayers, and good thoughts for Penny's recovery that we can muster.  If you can also support this GoFundMe with a small, medium, or large donation, every penny will be appreciated.


Deb Atiyeh, who shared in the efforts to organize this GoFundMe and who is a neighbor and friend of Penny and Bob, wrote this poem for Penny:

          In Cannon Beach I found a Lucky Penny.  
                      A sweet soul, sweeter than many.

          She loves to be in her garden among the flowers.  
                    With her earphones on she can get lost for hours.

          So many colors, so many scents everyday.  
                    More in the experience than what she can say.

          A sweet soul, sweeter than many.  
                    Like finding a shiny Penny.

          Did you know that the copper in pennies pulls in energies from 
                    higher realms into the physical world.
                              That is definitely the meaning of our Penny, 
                                         she is a treasure from another world revealed and unfurled.

          When I moved here I kept finding so many pennies everywhere.  
                    I know that God was telling me about something so rare.

          Then, my dogs found their Mama Penny.  
                  And then they knew that she was so much sweeter than many.

          When they see her they run for her.  
                  And she ever so lovingly pets their fur.

          With a few treats and a gentle caress.  
                 They immediately knew that they were blessed.

          So, to our sweet, shiny, Lucky Penny.  
                 You truly are sweeter than many.

          A blessing in our lives Forever!!  
                   Love & Healing to you is our Prayer...