Jen Montzingo's Medical Travel Fund

I hope this note finds you well. You are receiving this letter because you are friends, family or one small handful of undoubtedly special families that Jen has stayed in touch with throughout her teaching career. 

For those who do not know, in August of 2014, Jen fell and incurred a massive spinal cord injury, leaving her an incomplete paraplegic. Shortly thereafter, she was rushed into a fourteen-hour emergency neurosurgery and spent August 2014 until May 2016 in the hospital, and subsequent rehab and nursing home(s). During this time, it was important that Jen move back to Seattle to be near her support system of close friends and family. In May of 2016, she was finally able to move into an apartment in Seattle where two full-time caregivers come in to provide assistance and help her lead a life that feels somewhat "normal" despite the fact that she needs full-time care 15 hours/day.

Since October 2016, Jen has had two more extensive neurosurgeries - a fusion from C3-C6 and a craniectomy last week, from just under the cerebellum to C2.


The doctors are hopeful that this may be the last surgical intervention for the foreseeable future and that everything else can be maintained with regular outpatient visits to Cedars-Sinai Hospital. If left untreated, this spinal cord injury would cause further paralysis or fatality. 

The skeletal dysplasia department at Cedars-Sinai have extensive experience and critical expertise in maintaining this injury in combination with the medical difficulties due to her form of dwarfism, achondroplasia. Her surgical team has been phenomenal throughout these past few difficult years. 

While Jen's surgeries and inpatient stays are mostly covered, Jen has needed to be seen at Cedars-Sinai approximately every 6-8 weeks. The costs of traveling back and forth from Seattle to Los Angeles are staggering on a fixed income. 

We are writing to ask for some help for her to catch up on the overwhelming amount of travel costs that the surgeries have incurred. We would be grateful for your support as we fundraise to assist Jen with underwriting at least some of the additional travel expenses for these surgeries.

Would you consider contributing toward this effort on Jen’s behalf? 

Thank you so much for your consideration of this need.

Sincerely,

Jen’s Advocates:

Cherie McDonald 
Karen Skadan

Caption: Jen and her youngest brother, Peet during his many stays at the hospital.

Caption: One of Jen's earliest students comes over for a visit.