As many of you know, Debra (Van Engen) Templeman is facing serious challenges and needs our help. She fell and hit her head while in Milwaukee last Saturday, causing severe brain trauma. She has been in the ICU in a Milwaukee hospital for over a week. She is now breathing on her own and is showing small improvements each day. After a week of little communication, she has said a few words in the past day and has been able to be lifted into a wheelchair. Her medical team's goal is 1% improvement per day. It's going to be a long journey.

Rob has set up a Caring Bridge page and we encourage you to sign up for updates. A team of friends from Debra's wide, wide range of communities who love her is serving as liaison to those varied communities, which include Knox Presbyterian, Armstrong Chapel, Wise Temple, VAE, Cincinnati Opera, JP Morgan Chase, the University of Illinois, etc.

HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Debra's insurance company is insisting Debra be moved to a Personal Care facility as soon as possible. We expect that to be sometime this week. Debra will not yet be able to travel; her medical team anticipates she will need to live in a rehab facility in Milwaukee until she can make the trip - possibly a week or two - after which we need to get Debra from Milwaukee to Cincinnati where she has a support network, where she has hundreds of friends, and where Rob teaches. Transportation of a patient in her condition, most likely by private plane (as her medical team is recommending), is prohibitively expensive and it is not clear yet whether insurance will cover some or none of the cost. In addition, Debra will require months of rehabilitation and various therapies in order for her to return home, all incurring considerable personal expense.

As a community, we are coming together to launch at GoFundMe with the goal of at least $20,000. We have several substantial gifts to kick it off. We know we can get there. We encourage everyone reading this to take a moment and donate what you can to help. And please send this link to anyone that may consider being a part of this effort.

There are no words to describe the generosity of Debra Templeman, nor are there words to capture the love she shares with every person who is fortunate enough to know her. Perhaps if we were forced to try, to pick one admittedly inadequate word, we would pass over all those obvious choices - "talented," "devoted," faithful," "energetic," "smart," "funny," "warm," and "loving" - and simply say, "giving."

This is our opportunity to give. Please join us.