Clay Scherb 2022 Gift Trust

Dear Friends of the Scherb Family

On August 28, 2022, in a split second, everything changed for 17-year-old Clay Scherb. While at the lake, at the start of his Senior year of high school, Clay suffered a horrific accident in which his C5 was shattered. After being rushed into surgery and spending 2 critical weeks in ICU at Evanston Hospital, Clay was transferred to Northwestern Hospital for another week of enhanced care. The next 10 weeks were spent at Shirley Ryan Ability Lab for intense rehabilitation, with a brief stint back to Northwestern Hospital for two weeks to help clear Clay's lungs. Clay is now back at Shirley Ryan, hoping to go home for Christmas finally. This, sadly, has become the current routine for a newly paralyzed teen, who should instead be answering letters of acceptance to college. The reality is that Clay is paralyzed from the chest down. He has difficulty with his core and sitting upright unassisted; he cannot use his hands or move his legs. Everything we do daily, without thought, he cannot do currently.

With so much hope for Clay’s future, we are reaching out to you with Jeb & Suzy (Clay's Parents) permission to let you know about the long-term planning underway. While facing an uphill battle, Clay’s will is indomitable. He is determined to continue healing, gain strength, and regain mobility and self-sufficiency. The Scherbs have readied their house for Clay’s homecoming before Christmas with excitement, nervousness and relief to reunite under one roof again. They will continue pursuing every opportunity to fulfill Clay’s life’s full potential. There is no end to their perseverance.

In November, the Clay Scherb 2022 Gift Trust was established by the Kreisa and Sullivan families to pool generous community support and be a forever fund to assist with Clay’s long-term medical, therapeutic and educational needs. As you can imagine, the medical bills not covered by insurance are mounting. One looming obstacle to Clay’s sustained progress is the expiration of insurance coverage, which will not cover, among other expenses, in-home nursing care, long-term outpatient OT/PT rehabilitation, and stimulation therapy which is critical to his recovery. If and when you are so inclined throughout Clay’s journey, your family can continue to participate in his recovery efforts and improve his quality of life by contributing privately to Clay’s Trust through Chase bank.

Clay’s injury has revealed the very best of our community and the strength and resilience of the Scherb family. The outpouring of financial and emotional support has sustained them these past 100 days. Your contribution to the Clay Scherb 2022 Gift Trust will help the Scherb family with future expenses and provide them tremendous peace of mind. Future expenses will include:

* Home health care (half vs full day) - $25/hour; resulting in a cost of between $110K-$220K/year.

* On-going physical/occupational therapy (for which coverage will expire mid-2023)

* Electro-stimulation and other in-home medical and rehab-equipment

* Domestic/international travel to participate in cutting-edge clinical trials (i.e Mayo, Europe, etc)

* Upon his NT GRADUATION!!!, potential college personal nurse/assistant, or required accommodations

* Developing alternative therapies (i.e. hyperbaric/acupuncture etc.)

To give at any Chase branch, you can make a check payable to the “Clay Scherb 2022 Gift Trust” (Account #617577173). Please do not hesitate to reach out to us with any questions, and where needed - either of us or Jeb & Suzy will get back to you with more information.

Your consideration is much appreciated as we continue to support Clay and his determination for a bright future!

Regards,

Steve Sullivan - (847) [phone redacted];

[email redacted]

David Kreisa – (312) [phone redacted]; [email redacted]