Three weeks ago, our dear friend Jessamy Dipper experienced an extremely rare and devastating spinal stroke, which left her without the use of her legs. Spinal strokes account for less than 1% of all strokes, and this was even more unexpected given Jessamy’s age and health.

Jessamy is a special education teacher at Urban Assembly Media Studies High School in Manhattan. She had just come home from the first day of teaching when her legs gave out and life turned upside down for her, her husband Nick Thalhuber, and their young daughter Iris.

After an intensive two-week hospital stay in Brooklyn, Jessamy is now in an excellent inpatient rehab at Kessler Institute in New Jersey, where she’ll remain for many weeks while she works to regain enough mobility to return home.

Jessamy is determined and upbeat, and is making incredible progress. While the long-term outlook is very much still unfolding, there is real hope for recovery, but the long road ahead will include extensive outpatient therapy over the next 6-12 months.

The stresses on the family are significant: additional childcare, mounting medical expenses, accessible transportation to and from New Jersey during her inpatient stay and for months of outpatient appointments, home accessibility updates (as recommended by her rehab team), and lost income while Jessamy is on medical leave and Nick prioritizes Jessamy’s care.

Will you please consider contributing to help their family as they navigate this new reality? Your support makes a tangible difference in their day-to-day and in Jessamy’s recovery. And if you’re unable to contribute right now, sharing this page also truly helps.