Dear Editor; I want to write to express our overwhelming appreciation to a gentleman who went beyond anything we could imagine to help our family out when we needed it the most without us even asking him to, or letting us know what he did. My name is Jeff George, and my wife Jennifer and I reside in Blandon, in Maidencreek Township. I have two boys, 13 and 10, who live with me part time, and also a stepson, 22, stepson, 21, and a stepdaughter, 17.
We have a child together who celebrated his 4th birthday on March 6 who’s name is Denning and he has Gastroperesis as well as other medical issues.When he was born, he stopped breathing and was on an oscillator for 5 days and in the NICU for 12 and almost didn’t survive. He also had brain bleeds and to this day no one can know for sure what has caused his disorder, we can only speculate. He has failure to thrive because his disorder causes him to not be able to digest food properly, and therefore causes very bad reflux and stomach pains and he has to be fed every night by use of a pump into his stomach by use of what is called a Mic Key button. Gastroperesis can be fatal if not treated properly and there can be bad side effects from the medications used to treat it.
My family had done major fundraisers for both the March of Dimes and American Cancer Society the last two years and with his surgery last December as well as other issues, we were not able to this year as it was too much stress on our family. I work two jobs to support everyone so Jen can stay home as Denning needs 24/7 care with all his meds he has to take throughout the day, and we basically live week to week and struggle by. We have a lot of out of pocket medical needs that none of the insurance would cover and decided to make a list of what we needed and started to ask on Facebook what kind of fundraisers we could do as a family to raise money to help with these expenses, which can become costly.
My long time friend and Mayor of Topton, Mr. Thomas Biltfclif III asked me to email him a list of what we needed and said he may be able to help and said no more. The first week of February I received an envelope in the mail from The Kutztown Optimist Club whom which we are both members. I assumed it was my final notice for my membership which I was unable to pay yet for 2013. I opened the envelope and we received a check from them and a note saying the club also voted to pay my dues for the year. I was in total shock as this will cover almost half of what we need for him in a year and went upstairs to my wife, Jen, in tears and not knowing what to say. It took me almost an hour to calm down and I called Tom and asked if he knew anything about this, and it was him who contacted the Optimist Club on our behalf.
Two weeks later we got a knock at our front door and a representative of the Kutztown Hobos presented a check to us as well. We could not be more grateful for the unselfish generosity when we needed it the most.
This goes to show, there are people in this world today who, when someone is in need, will reach out and go that extra mile for a friend. I was always to proud to ask for help and always willing to help out others when needed, and now in our time of need, Tom Biltclif and The Kutztown Optimist Club and Kutztown Hobos came to our assistance.We also had another friend stop by the house recently who also gave us money towards Dennings’ medical costs but I did not have permission to use his name.
We have no words to express our gratitude and want the public to know how much this means to our family and especially to our son, Denning.
All my best, Jeff George Blandon resident
