Help for Sharron; Medical Bills
Donation protected
I'm Janet.
I met Sharron in the 8th grade.
We were 13, living in the heart of Dixie (read: backroads of central Alabama) and just trying to make it through junior high together. (she's the blonde with the amazing blue eyes; I'm the brunette)
(^Sharron on the far left, me in the middle. High School graduation day!)
That was 22 years ago and now Sharron's my best friend, my sister, my family.
We lived together briefly while she was earning her degree in Civil Engineering at Auburn University. She moved to Japan after marrying her Air Force sweetheart, Patrick - and I moved to Massachusetts when my first marriage ended.
Eventually, her husband got out of the Air Force and found a super awesome job in Connecticut. ONE HOUR AWAY FROM ME instead of halfway around the world. It was an improvement.
Since then, she's worked her butt off and earned her MBA and is apparently a Black Belt in Six Sigma. Very impressive, from what I've read.
Here's the deal:
Sharron has an older half-brother (same dad, different mom) named Steven, and a younger full-brother named Chris. In 2012, when Sharron was 33, both of her brothers passed away - Chris in June after a motorcycle accident and Steven in September after a long battle with leukemia. Chris was 29 and Steven was 43.
Steven (and Sharron):
Chris:
Sharron & baby Chris:
Sharron and grown-up Chris:
Since that time, she's been attending therapy, trying different medications, etc - pushing herself hard and trying to grieve, mourn, celebrate her brothers' lives and finally accept her loss and move forward in life, but it seems she's suffering from what's called "Complicated Grief".
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Complicated-grief.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complicated_grief_disorder
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/complicated-grief/basics/symptoms/con-20032765
For nearly two years (June 2014 will be two years) now, Sharron's been fighting an extremely hard battle and nothing seems to be helping her move in a positive direction.
She recently discovered a treatment center in Arizona that she feels is her best chance at help and healing - the Behavioral Health Treatment Center in Tucson Arizona - where they offer exactly the focused and intensive therapy she wants and needs to help her with the long-term and debilitating symptoms she's been struggling with.
It's a 30-45 day in-patient treatment program and it's quite expensive.
So I'm doing something kind of out there and asking strangers to help. If I could spread this around the internet and get 4000 people to donate $5.00 each, she'd have enough to travel to Arizona and receive the treatment she deserves.
Insurance won't cover it - however, after the treatment is complete, there is an appeals process by which Sharron and her husband might be reimbursed for the cost, but it's a really long process and there's no guarantee that they'll be successful and receive the reimbursement. Regardless, the facility requires the full amount to be paid up-front.
With Sharron not working full-time for several years, it's just an extremely cost-prohibitive program - but it really and truly seems to be the best, brightest, most hopeful option for her right now. Possibly the only option.
I don't mean to be morose, but her mental state is making it impossible for her to enjoy being on this planet anymore - and I want to keep her around for as long as I can. I hope the professionals at that facility can help me (and her husband and everyone else who loves her) do that. The world is a better place with her in it.
She's strong, tough, brilliant, generous, and hilarious - I know she can do this, but we all need help sometimes. Right now I need it, for her to be able to get it.
Tough Sharron, snow-blowing!
Brilliant Sharron, Civil Engineering!
Brave Sharron (arms in the air at the top), climbing Mayan ruins I was too scared to climb! Which is why the photo was taken from way down here where my fraidy cat butt was standing!
Generous Sharron, making you pancakes even when the power's out and it's freezing outside!
Strong Sharron, holding up her two super huge and heavy dogs, Parker and Duncan!
Hilarious Sharron, in better days, laughing at her furry best friend's bark-bark jokes!...
...and enjoying the h3ll out of this photo-shoot with her other best friend, Patrick.
Terrific BFF Sharron at my first wedding (2003), where she made sure my bosoms and my lipstick didn't get out of control!
Terrific BFF Sharron Part II at my second wedding in 2012, four months after her younger brother died, and less than a month after her older brother died. Brave face, helpful, loving, and present. Everything I could've wanted in a best-friend-sister on my big day (I'm an only child, so hey - my best friends count as sisters) even though it was killing her to be there.
...and being toast-ful at my wedding reception (Sharron, the only one who managed to look pretty in this picture!)
and for awws, these are the three men who make up her immediate family; they love her and need her and want her to be present and healthy just as much (ok...maybe more than) as I do.
I realize mental health illnesses aren't the same as physical health illnesses...but in all reality, this pervasive, destructive, unhealthy form of grief is taking the same toll on her mind, body, and soul as a cancer would. And right now, that cancer seems to be winning.
So if any of you have five or ten dollars to spare, please show some compassion, some wonderful love and humanity, for this beautiful woman who genuinely wants help, and truly deserves it.
I met Sharron in the 8th grade.
We were 13, living in the heart of Dixie (read: backroads of central Alabama) and just trying to make it through junior high together. (she's the blonde with the amazing blue eyes; I'm the brunette)
(^Sharron on the far left, me in the middle. High School graduation day!)
That was 22 years ago and now Sharron's my best friend, my sister, my family.
We lived together briefly while she was earning her degree in Civil Engineering at Auburn University. She moved to Japan after marrying her Air Force sweetheart, Patrick - and I moved to Massachusetts when my first marriage ended.
Eventually, her husband got out of the Air Force and found a super awesome job in Connecticut. ONE HOUR AWAY FROM ME instead of halfway around the world. It was an improvement.
Since then, she's worked her butt off and earned her MBA and is apparently a Black Belt in Six Sigma. Very impressive, from what I've read.
Here's the deal:
Sharron has an older half-brother (same dad, different mom) named Steven, and a younger full-brother named Chris. In 2012, when Sharron was 33, both of her brothers passed away - Chris in June after a motorcycle accident and Steven in September after a long battle with leukemia. Chris was 29 and Steven was 43.
Steven (and Sharron):
Chris:
Sharron & baby Chris:
Sharron and grown-up Chris:
Since that time, she's been attending therapy, trying different medications, etc - pushing herself hard and trying to grieve, mourn, celebrate her brothers' lives and finally accept her loss and move forward in life, but it seems she's suffering from what's called "Complicated Grief".
http://www.health.harvard.edu/fhg/updates/Complicated-grief.shtml
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complicated_grief_disorder
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/complicated-grief/basics/symptoms/con-20032765
For nearly two years (June 2014 will be two years) now, Sharron's been fighting an extremely hard battle and nothing seems to be helping her move in a positive direction.
She recently discovered a treatment center in Arizona that she feels is her best chance at help and healing - the Behavioral Health Treatment Center in Tucson Arizona - where they offer exactly the focused and intensive therapy she wants and needs to help her with the long-term and debilitating symptoms she's been struggling with.
It's a 30-45 day in-patient treatment program and it's quite expensive.
So I'm doing something kind of out there and asking strangers to help. If I could spread this around the internet and get 4000 people to donate $5.00 each, she'd have enough to travel to Arizona and receive the treatment she deserves.
Insurance won't cover it - however, after the treatment is complete, there is an appeals process by which Sharron and her husband might be reimbursed for the cost, but it's a really long process and there's no guarantee that they'll be successful and receive the reimbursement. Regardless, the facility requires the full amount to be paid up-front.
With Sharron not working full-time for several years, it's just an extremely cost-prohibitive program - but it really and truly seems to be the best, brightest, most hopeful option for her right now. Possibly the only option.
I don't mean to be morose, but her mental state is making it impossible for her to enjoy being on this planet anymore - and I want to keep her around for as long as I can. I hope the professionals at that facility can help me (and her husband and everyone else who loves her) do that. The world is a better place with her in it.
She's strong, tough, brilliant, generous, and hilarious - I know she can do this, but we all need help sometimes. Right now I need it, for her to be able to get it.
Tough Sharron, snow-blowing!
Brilliant Sharron, Civil Engineering!
Brave Sharron (arms in the air at the top), climbing Mayan ruins I was too scared to climb! Which is why the photo was taken from way down here where my fraidy cat butt was standing!
Generous Sharron, making you pancakes even when the power's out and it's freezing outside!
Strong Sharron, holding up her two super huge and heavy dogs, Parker and Duncan!
Hilarious Sharron, in better days, laughing at her furry best friend's bark-bark jokes!...
...and enjoying the h3ll out of this photo-shoot with her other best friend, Patrick.
Terrific BFF Sharron at my first wedding (2003), where she made sure my bosoms and my lipstick didn't get out of control!
Terrific BFF Sharron Part II at my second wedding in 2012, four months after her younger brother died, and less than a month after her older brother died. Brave face, helpful, loving, and present. Everything I could've wanted in a best-friend-sister on my big day (I'm an only child, so hey - my best friends count as sisters) even though it was killing her to be there.
...and being toast-ful at my wedding reception (Sharron, the only one who managed to look pretty in this picture!)
and for awws, these are the three men who make up her immediate family; they love her and need her and want her to be present and healthy just as much (ok...maybe more than) as I do.
I realize mental health illnesses aren't the same as physical health illnesses...but in all reality, this pervasive, destructive, unhealthy form of grief is taking the same toll on her mind, body, and soul as a cancer would. And right now, that cancer seems to be winning.
So if any of you have five or ten dollars to spare, please show some compassion, some wonderful love and humanity, for this beautiful woman who genuinely wants help, and truly deserves it.
Organizer
Janet Jacob
Organizer
Sturbridge, MA
