Mary Roettger's Care Fund

Mary Roettger (dear friend, lover-of-all-things-that-matter, sculptor extraordinaire) was diagnosed with ALS about three and a half years ago.  Lou Gehrig’s Disease, as ALS is commonly known, is an incurable disease that causes the progressive weakening of a person's muscle strength, leading ultimately to total incapacitation.  Mary has taken to living with ALS as she has with everything in life—with a curious and open mind, always looking for silver linings and beauty within.  Mary has, of course, continued to live life to the fullest possible. 

This was easy at first, because her body did most of what she asked of it.  Over time, though, Mary’s body has been less and less able to do most things.  Mary is now limited to very little activity—she is in a wheelchair, has only enough energy for a few hours of activity/day, is having a lot of difficulty talking and now takes all of her food and liquid through a feeding port in her abdomen.  Needless to say she needs a lot of care.

In order to provide Mary the best quality of life, Mary and her husband Dick spent a lot of their income and savings on several things—they remodeled their home, bought a wheelchair-ready van and have paid for a personal care assistant for 10-20 hours/week for months.  This has put a lot of stress on their finances and ultimately could challenge their ability to stay in their home.  That’s where we come in.  Mary and Dick are now seeing they need more help.  They have identified a need for $17,000 to close-the-gap in what they need and what they can pay for a personal care assistant for the next six months.   In the event that we somehow raise more money than our goal, every penny will be spent on ALS-related expenses Mary and Dick accrue.

Please consider making a personally meaningful donation.  And, please dig deep—Mary and Dick need help!  Here are a few ideas to help guide your giving:

$100 = one day of PCA
$600 = one week of PCA*
$1,400 = 1/2 month of PCA*
$2,800 = one month of PCA*

 *If you are interested in making a contribution greater than $500, please email John Larsen at [email redacted] -- we have a process that will be fee-free for larger contributions. 

You can receive updates on how Mary is doing through her CaringBridge site here:
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/maryroettger3

Thank you for your support of Mary and Dick as they work through this challenging time!

Love,
Team Roettger-Comben (Mary Roettger, Dick Comben, Marilyn Roettger, Kate Pfaffinger, Mariann Johnson, Mike Stewart and John Larsen)

PS  Feel free to share this link and help spread the word!