Teacher & Indie Journalist Struck by Tragedy

UPDATE FROM KATIE:  All I can say is WOW have kind people stepped up for these truly good folks in their time of crisis and need. I will shut this fundraiser down to further donations at midnight tonight (Monday), but until that time, if you would like to learn about the Stambaugh family’s situation by reading below, perhaps chipping in even a small amount, and sharing their story with others on Facebook, well… just thanks. You guys are good peoples.

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Hi, my name is Katie Allison, and I’ve worked in many capacities within the Knoxville and national communications & media industry for several decades now. I’m also the proud daughter and granddaughter of journalists.

We all know that the shape of our industry has changed forever, and sometimes now, those of us who have in the past or still do work as journalists have to step up to help one of our own.

 

Now is one of those times.  I’m asking now that my fellow current and former journalist pals consider stepping up to help one of our own who could really use a collective hand up at the moment.

 

Many of you have known local journalist JJ Stambaugh personally as a colleague or competitor during his decades as a terrific reporter with the former Knoxville Journal or after that, with the Knoxville News Sentinel. After like so many of us in the field of journalism found that the job security we believed we had earned just didn’t exist, JJ found a way to keep doing the work he loves as an investigative journalist via a lot of grit and a real indie spirit.

 

Together with his wife Jenna Stambaugh, JJ continues to greatly enhance the accountability of local officials and elevate our local civic dialogue with the really terrific, hard-hitting indie local online journalism publication, Hard Knox Wire . JJ produces and reports for Hard Knox Wire while quietly dealing with some serious personal chronic health conditions.

 

In addition to her full time work as one of the entrepreneurs behind Hard Knox Wire, Jenna is also a full time teacher who just began a new position last week. Together, JJ and Jenna Stambaugh are parents of a lovely teenage child.

 

Well, here’s the deal: yesterday Jenna experienced an absolutely horrible and lengthy fall directly onto concrete while attempting to work on the roof of her parents’ home in Sevier County to get it ready to sell so that her father can move into a more appropriate living situation.

 

Jenna is very lucky to be alive, but she’s very badly injured. She was airlifted to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, where much is still being assessed, including the need for potential surgeries, but doctors have already identified nine major broken bones in her legs, pelvis, and back.

 

It’s too soon to know how long Jenna will be hospitalized, but doctors have told JJ that it’s safe to say “a long time,” and that rehabilitation services will certainly be necessary following her actual discharge.

 

I have been in a position before with a family member in the ICU and the need to be at that person’s bedside 24/7, meaning that very suddenly neither you nor your gravely ill partner can work to earn income, your small business is suddenly on indefinite hiatus, and you’re torn every second between wanting to never leave your loved one’s bedside but you also have to figure out how to care for the child you still have at home, who still needs care, feeding, love, school transportation and supervision…

 

And then there are all the little expenses when you have a loved one in the hospital for weeks or months: the cost of parking at the hospital adds up. Hospital food costs add up….

 

And of course even with insurance - which given Jenna’s brand new position when this happened, the status of Jenna’s health insurance still isn’t totally clear for the Stambaughs - the cost of a hospital stay like this (deductibles, co pays, out of network costs…) is in a word - life changing.

 

And I don’t think that I have to mention that these are two parents who now know what the holiday season is going to look like for their child, and that they will struggle to find a way to make sure there  are any Christmas gifts this year.

 

I wasn’t going to put a “goal amount” for the Stambaugh family on this GoFundMe, but GFM forced me to name a number, so I selected $5,000. If everyone who has ever been touched or moved by by JJ Stammaugh’s excellent work as a journalist in this community kicks in a few bucks. If all his former Knoxville Journal and Knoxville News Sentinel colleagues just chip in even a small amount. If everyone reading this - no matter where you live - who has also been a lifelong journalist who has found themselves “industry shifted” out of their careers would just kick in a few bucks. If everyone who admires the passion for journalism that led JJ to launch Hard Knox Wire as an indie journalism effort chips in a couple of dollars. If everyone who has a child who has been touched by Jenna Stambaugh’s gift for teaching chips in a little, and if some of the wonderful secret santas I know live among us in this community toss in a few bucks to make sure that the youngest Stambaugh has gifts to open on Christmas morning - even if it’s on the floor of mom’s hospital room…. well, together we can make what are inarguably going to be an incredibly difficult and challenging next few months for a family who has for decades done so much for this community just a bit easier.

 

Every penny that you chip in for the Stambaughs goes directly to the family’s own, regular bank account. I personally have no access to, knowledge of, or interest in the financial transactions that occur as part of this GoFundMe appeal. I just asked for JJ’s permission to set it up and get the ball rolling - permission he reluctantly gave because he’s mostly thinking of their child’s needs in the months ahead.

 

And not only did I feel moved to set this Go Fund Me up simply because I think highly of JJ as a fellow local journalist, I can also tell all of you reading this that I know exactly what it feels like to spend weeks and weeks sitting next to the bed of a critically ill loved one, and feeling the relief of at least one of the all-consuming gazillion worries I was facing at that time that due to the financial generosity of people who knew of our situation, I was so much more able to focus on love than the cost of all those trays of cafeteria food..

 

Let’s help the Stambaughs.

 

Even $5.00 helps. -

 

katie