Support Gabriella and Jennifer's Journey Through Crohn's

Gabriella is home! After spending 87 days in various hospitals over the course of a year, losing almost 30% of her body weight, enduring multiple surgeries and procedures, and turning 13 from a hospital bed, Gabriella is putting her energies toward being a teenager, going to CPS middle school in person (!!), and adjusting to the realities of life with Crohns .

It was an arduous path to get to the diagnosis, and another arduous path to get to recovery. Now that Jennifer and Gabriella are out of crisis mode and looking ahead, the realities of those months in the hospital (many of those months without health insurance) are settling in. Meanwhile, they are coming to understand what will be required to keep Gabriella healthy and moving toward thriving, including daily medications and additional interventions.

Jennifer has been working her butt off to manage the medical expenses on her own (and obliterating her hard-earned savings), but a few of her friends have finally twisted her arm into letting us tell folks that financial support is the best way to help right now.

Although the bills are adding up to HALF A MILLION dollars and counting, after tirelessly working with hospital billing departments, Jennifer has identified $12k as what's needed to catch her breath, so she can continue to purchase the medicine necessary to keep Gabriella moving forward, and start thinking about rebuilding savings and the college fund.

Let's pull together and show Gabriella that there are people out here who care for her and are here to support her recovery. And show Jennifer that all the generosity and support she has selflessly put out into the world over the years will come back to her in the form that she and her exceptional child most need right now; show her that she doesn't have to do everything by her bada$$-single-mom self. Please donate what you can, set a reminder to donate again next month, and pass this along to encourage your friends and family to contribute $10 or $20.

*** P.S. Anyone who knows them will not be surprised to hear that Jennifer and Gabriella are already paying it forward. Spending all that time in children's hospitals, they saw the struggles of families who must travel long distances to the hospital. In addition to the obvious hardships of having a child ill enough to be in the hospital, they have logistical hurdles many of us wouldn't think about (parking costs, healthy food for the family who aren't patients, childcare for siblings at home, gas money, etc.). Jennifer, Gabriella, and a friend are working with a children's hospital to organize aid for these families, even while they are navigating their own way through the system. Stay tuned for how you can help in this effort. ***