A stroke, a wedding, an ocean apart

It's a modern-day fairytale love story movies are made from. Stefanie and Jon met on Twitter back in February 2021 when Stefanie posted a Tweet about a strange nightmare she had, but didn't want to share scary details publicly. Jon was curious, and asked if she'd send him a private message with the scary story. That one random tweet turned into them chatting, texting, and tweeting each other constantly. Those turned into Zoom chats for hours on end, including watching movies together, touring museums, and visiting far away places around the globe all virtually. They became the best of friends, and soon turned into stronger feelings. Neither of them were looking for or expecting to find love, let alone a love as strong as the one they share. Everything was perfect and they knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

What's the catch you ask? Well, Jon lives in the United Kingdom. Stefanie lives in the USA.

After some planning and several setbacks due to the pandemic, Jon flew to Pittsburgh to finally meet the love of his life in person for the first time. The four weeks they spent together were the happiest of their lives. He was able to stay for a month and they started making forever plans.

He flew home the end of February and they immediately started making wedding plans. They set an August date for the big event and the excitement and anticipation grew. Then the horrible, unthinkable happened. One Sunday afternoon while on Zoom together, Jon had a stroke. Jon called an ambulance and Stefanie called his parents, who were in town about 15 minutes away from his house. Stefanie felt completely helpless being over 3,000 miles from him. All she could do was listen as he crawled and thudded down the stairs to let the medics in the door. It was a full day of not knowing how bad the stroke was, not knowing if she would ever see him again, not knowing what his chances of recovery would be. She was utterly broken, thinking she had lost the love of her life before they even got to truly begin their life together. Late in the evening, Jon's parents called Stefanie to let her know he had survived the stroke, but was in critical condition.

Days later, good news came. Jon was progressing well. He is doing physiotherapy every week day, and although it'll be a long and difficult road, he is expected to eventually make a full recovery. He is able to move his left arm only with assistance from his right arm but is currently unable to walk. He's been in the hospital a little over two weeks, and they aren't sure yet when he'll be able to be released. His goal is to be able to walk down the aisle by the wedding day. He tells everyone that his motivation to get better comes from wanting a long and happy life with Stefanie.

Put yourself in Stefanie's shoes and imagine being so far away and unable to help your soul mate, the person you would do anything for, the person who makes you the happiest you have ever been in your life, that special someone you want to spend the rest of your life with. More than anything, Stefanie wants to be in the UK as soon as possible to help Jon through his recovery. Traveling across an ocean on short notice is expensive, and the cost is currently the only thing keeping Jon and Stefanie apart. Please help with what ever you can to get Stefanie to the UK as soon as possible to be with Jon on his road to recovery.