Let's Support Our Mama!

Photo courtesy of Libby Volgyes

     Christmas, particularly the eve, is traditionally a joyful time of the year for kids and adults alike.  Anticipation and excitement filled the air, too, for Mama Gizzi, master pasta maker and co-owner (with hubby John Storch) of Mama Gizzi’s Gourmet Pasta, a popular Italian food retailer and wholesaler in Lake Worth, a quiet, south Florida city, as she prepared Christmas orders for her top area restaurants and hotels.

     Big-hearted Mama, or Leah as her family knows her, was busy in her kitchen when her hand and arm accidentally got caught in the rapidly-spinning hopper of her pasta extruder.  Both her hand and arm were severely punctured and smashed.  On arrival at the emergency room, surgeons initially thought Leah’s hand would have to be amputated.

     On removing the paddle which were still stuck in her, surgeons discovered that Leah’s hand was totally mangled with tendons and muscles damaged and that both forearm bones and her wrist were shattered.  The encouraging but of news was surgeons now felt confident they could save Leah’s hand, wrist and arm

     So extensive was the damage and shock that surgery finally occurred 15 days after the accident.  A metal truss and metal plates now support Leah’s forearm and hand.  Leah was discharged from the hospital three days later on January 11 and her doctors estimate that it will take months and possibly up to two years for Leah to have complete use of her fingers, thumb and wrist.  Yet, throughout all this, Leah’s still smiling and joking.
    
In the meantime, John has been filling and delivering orders for their restaurants, hotels and major accounts, but their retail and catering side of their business are suspended indefinitely.  So, too, are their wildly popular “underground supper club,” held Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. 

     As if it’s not tough enough to be handicapped for a year or more and suspending some business operations, the Lake Worth community, too, is feeling the effects of Leah’s accident.  Leah and John had been feeding the homeless every Monday as we as donating her fresh dry pasta  biweekly to Barten Elementary School.  Like the retail and catering side of their business, that, too, had to be deferred. 

     After medical insurance, there’s still a significant balance of $30,000 remaining on hospital and doctor bills.  That amount will increase because of the length of Leah’s anticipated recovery period.

     Thank you (or “grazie”) as Leah would say) for any help you can give!