Aid Jen in Alex’s battle against serious illness

Hello, my name is Jennifer Schwartzer-Calabro. You can call me Jen. You know my brother Alex Schwartzer. He is why I am reaching out to you.

The last three weeks have been a nightmare, but a bit of a blessing as well. Finally, finding out my brother was alive and hearing from him was a gift from God. However, he was on the brink of death every day for the last three weeks, and he died twice as well. To make a long story short, he had a staph infection, he has pneumonia, he has flesh-eating bacteria on his leg and thighs, and he had several, upwards of 15, large pockets of bacteria and pus ranging from his abdomen down his pelvis to his thighs. He’s gonna need six more weeks of long-term intravenous antibiotics. He was on a ventilator, and they finally were able to take him off of it. He’s come off of the drugs for the most part. They’re looking for a skilled nursing home for him to be able to get the remainder of his antibiotics. But that requires somewhere for him to go after, and I have committed that he can come live with my family here in Iowa.

Times are tough everywhere, but right now I’m disabled, and my husband has been laid off from work after 22 years at Wells. I will need to pay for his flight, buy him some clothes, a phone, and some medical equipment so that I can nurse him back when he’s here. Just because the antibiotics will be done doesn’t mean his recovery will be complete. And then we need money and resources to feed him and care for him for the six weeks or longer until his Medicaid out here kicks in, and then to help get him to rehab.

I understand he may have failed you in many ways in the past. Please put your hope in him, and if not, love him the way you once did. Love this imperfect man, and put your hope and faith in me because I’ll get things done.

I appreciate you listening. I appreciate anything you can donate. I’m gonna have this up for 6 to 8 weeks. Anything you can do would be great, and hopefully, we can even get a little bit above, and whatever isn’t spent, I will split between all of you. I’m so grateful for your time, energy, and thoughtfulness.

Respectfully,

Jen Calabro