Help My Amazing Artist-Wife Get Back to her Paintbox!!


I met my wife, Mary Jill (Austin) Schauf, in November 1963. All these years she has been a happy, caring and very positive person, turning her artistic talents into a second career as a decorative painter and muralist.

On October 1, 2016, three weeks after our 50th wedding anniversary, Jill suddenly had trouble speaking and breathing and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors diagnosed a profound case of the Miller Fisher variant of Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS). Patients with severe GBS lose almost all ability to move for 6 to 9 months, and then they have to re-learn everything.

Jill was in hospitals and care homes a year and sixteen days. After the last two months in a Skilled Nursing Facility, it was clear lower staffing/funding levels and corresponding greatly lowered quality of care were pushing her toward an emotional breakdown. So on October 16, 2017, we moved her home to continue her recovery. Ever since, we have hired caregivers part of each day to help me take care of Jill.

Jill has made significant progress, but her neurologist says recovery to her “new normal” could take three years or more. Jill has regained the ability to speak fairly clearly, but she's still working on balance and fine
motor skills. She has rehabilitative therapies to relearn how to grasp things, to stand and walk, and to draw and paint. We are looking at another year with home care providers as Jill continues to work to regain strength and mobility.

How You Can Help

In 2018 our out-of-pocket expenditures for Jill’s caregivers averaged over $10,900 per month. We are asking for your assistance with this cost of Jill’s care in 2019, with a goal of raising $100,000.  Approximately $8,300 will cover most of the costs for a month; about $1,900 covers a week. But any amount will help, and it will be greatly appreciated.



Thank you so much!