NER Invitation - Possible Charity Event

Hey folks,

Some of you may/may not have caught the post on the 501st board from
a father requesting a visit from R2D2 and a bunch of Star Wars
Characters for his sick son, who currently has been in the Saint
Joseph's Children Hosptial for the better part of this year.

I just wantet to give you all a preliminary report and some
background information about a possible visit that I'm going to set
up, alongside certain fanforce groups and 501st Garrisons.

Gary Pranzo adopted his young son, Fernando. Fernando has had a
tough start on life, starting with a sepsis infection, then on to
removing part of his vocal cords, and currently battling ARDS. He
has also been put in a coma so that life support could be given to
him for his lungs. For those of you who don't know what ARDS is,
here's a description:

"Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is an acute, severe
injury to most or all of both lungs. Patients with ARDS experience
severe shortness of breath and often require mechanical ventilation
(life support) because of respiratory failure. ARDS is not a specific
disease; instead, it is a type of severe, acute lung dysfunction that
is associated with a variety of diseases, such as pneumonia, shock,
sepsis (a severe infection in the body) and trauma. ARDS can be
confused with congestive heart failure, which is another common
condition that can also cause acute respiratory distress."

I spoke to Gary today and he seemed elated about the show of support
we're attempting to give him. He said his son loves start wars and
would get such a kick out of seeing all the characters come to life
before him.

I am currently waiting for the Hospital's director to get in touch
with me. There are some big factors here, such as how many people
will they allow in the ICU unit where Fernando resides. There's a
possibility they might allow him outside for a little bit to visit us
all as a group, which I'm hoping for. I'd also like to turn this
into a full hosptial visit. First we'd visit Fernando and then maybe
we could spread about the hospital and visit other kids.

The reason I am writing this to all of you is just to keep you
informed on where I am so far. There's been no set date yet, nor any
solid planning. Hopefully that will come soon. I just wanted to get
Gary and Fernando's story out there in hopes that when the time does
come, we can show this father and son the true meaning of fandom!
I'd like to see if we can get any toys donated to give to these kids
during our visit as well.

I will be in touch again when I get more information.

Dion
TK/TD 1217
NER XO

 

Curt, a member of the NER, was able to go visit the kid last minute on Friday. He took his R2 unit with him.

At some point there may be a more formally scheduled hospital visit. I will keep you posted on whether POR will be invited. The hospital may limit numbers and of course NER members get invited first.