Tracy Jon and Gwen

Hello -

As many of you may know, Tracy and Jon are facing a series of serious life and health challenges that have created significant personal, emotional, and financial strain on them for the past three years. They have many more difficult months ahead.

We are writing to ask their friends and family if they can help them navigate this very hard time.

There's a more detailed version below, but the short story is: Tracy has been stricken for nearly 3 years by debilitating visual and neurological problems, and is unable to work or even leave their home most days. Her doctors have recently recommended an intravenous immune globulin treatment that is rarely covered by insurance and very expensive.

With Tracy out of work, their disability insurance company initially replaced a portion of their lost income, but last year the insurer inexplicably decided Tracy was healed (against the opinions of all her doctors), and cut off her benefits. This eliminated nearly 2/3 of their income.

Jon and Tracy are now looking at a lawsuit that could take well over a year to resolve to get the money they are owed. And amid all this their beloved dog Gwen is going through her second bout of cancer and chemo treatment.

Jon and Tracy both are facing immense financial and time pressure, personal strain and stress. If you'd like help them, donations or gift cards will help them maintain some balance while slogging through this lawsuit, and ease at least some of their financial pressure. Gift cards for meals, take out, or cleaning services would alleviate some of the day-to-day time pressure with everything going on. We are setting up this Go Fund Me so that all donations go straight to them.

Any other offers of help would also be greatly appreciated. If you are more comfortable sending a check that is welcome too. Please email or text Jon for mailing address.

Cook Unity (meal service) https://www.cookunity.com

Door Dash https://www.doordash.com/

Maids in Black (cleaning service) https://maidsinblack.com/

More details:

As a precaution, Tracy received a rabies vaccine in May 2020 after Gwen and another dog were in a fight, and suffered a rare but terrible negative reaction. She now suffers from a constellation of debilitating visual and neurological problems, including light sensitivity, dizziness, nausea, constant daily migraines and other symptoms. She has undergone numerous tests and treatments but has made incremental progress at best and hasn't been able to work since that summer. Active throughout her life, she can barely leave their house due to her visual problems. They are still seeking new treatment options in the hopes of making progress.

For a time Tracy's disability insurance replaced a chunk of their lost income and at least kept them financially stable. But around this time last year the insurance company decided Tracy was healed and no longer qualified for coverage -- cutting off some 2/3 of their income.

The insurance decision went against the medical opinions of a half dozen doctors and an occupational expert, and against the Social Security Administration, which has also found Tracy to be unable to work any job. After a lengthy appeal process the insurer has still refused to restore benefits, so Tracy and Jon are preparing for a lawsuit, but that process could take between 1 and 2.5 years to conclude. In the meantime they've had to dig into their savings to get by.

Amid all this Gwen is now facing her second bout of cancer and chemo treatment. The initial treatment last year helped immensely, and it was 11 months before a recurrence. Gwen is now undergoing a second round of treatment, and while they have pet insurance, it is still a significant expense along with everything else going on.

Through it all Tracy is dealing with the physical and emotional difficulty of being unwell and limited for so long and Jon is overwhelmed as the caregiver for Tracy and Gwen, responsible for virtually all of their needs -- cooking, cleaning, managing Tracy's care, wrangling with insurance companies, overseeing their lawsuit, managing their home and his own demanding job.

We hope that financial support can help them weather this combination of storms as we all hope for better times ahead.

Love,

Dennae, Aileen, Ana, Alison, Robin and Leah (Tracy's Bridesmaids!)