Going With the Gessners
Fundraising campaign by
Warren Scott
-
US$299.00raised of $25,000.00 goal goal
No more donations are being accepted at this time. Please contact the campaign owner if you would like to discuss further funding opportunities
Campaign Story
To Our Friends and Family ~ Near and Far,
When
you see two young people get married and start a family, you never
imagine that one day you’ll be helping them to create a website because
one of them is battling lung cancer and the other a serious autoimmune
disease while raising a four-year old little girl. But that is where
Nicole and Clay Gessner find themselves, in a place of vulnerability and
need, a place where they’ve been driven to their knees because they’re
not sure there’s any place else to be. And, where their family and
friends are desperate for ways to help them.
They are the
Gessners – Clay (34), Nicole (31) and Aria (4), and of course their dog
Nala. Raised in Mifflinburg, PA, they are grateful for their little
town. Clay works as the Restaurant Manager for the
Rusty Rail Brewing Company.
Nicole is a speech language pathologist for the Milton Area School
District who loves and cares for her students deeply. And Aria, well
she’s a sweet, smart, and well-spoken 4-year old.
In the
spring of 2017, Clay began experiencing significant breathing
difficulties that were accompanied by pneumonia diagnoses and atypical
chest x rays at local hospitals. Exhaustive tests and procedures and
surgeries resulted in a stream of biopsies with a diagnosis of
interstitial lung disease which was severely limiting Clay’s lung
function.
In late fall, they visited specialists at the
University of Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The team of doctors
there continued the stream of tests and procedures and, in February,
diagnosed Clay with a late stage adenocarcinoma lung cancer and end
stage lung disease, which also claimed his father's life in Clay’s early
college career.
As a family, we are determined to not leave
any stone unturned so plans have now been made for Clay and Nicole to
travel to MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas later this month
to be evaluated by their experts, the best in the world, for additional
opinions and treatment options.
They find themselves right
now at the hardest possible place any of us can imagine. Their family
and friends have encouraged and urged them to allow others to help. With
Nicole having exhausted all of her paid time off from work and Clay
limited in his ability to work, they will need help with daily expenses
but also all the expenses associated with medical care in Philadelphia
or Houston.
They also need our help in giving
them ‘space’ – space where instead of asking them to share every detail
of what’s going on every time we see them, that we can try and allow
some type of normalcy and sense of privacy for them. Offer a hug and a
conversation, but one that we would all have typically with Clay and
Nicole just like any other day.
As they face
this tough journey, we know that they will need ongoing help. Our family
has set up this site in order for updates to be easily shared, messages
to be sent and help/donations to be organized. Our plan is to regularly
update this site so please check in here as much as you like.
We
will also post on this site any fundraisers that have been approved by
the family. If you don’t see it here, it’s not been okayed by the
family.
The most important
thing we request are your ongoing prayers. If you can hold them in your
thoughts and prayers as they navigate these difficult days, it will mean
the world.
With peace, love and gratitude…
Organizer
- Warren Scott
- Campaign Owner
Donors
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