Paul's Update/Special Requests - May 11th
Each day is another small step towards Karen’s recovery, and we all continue to be pleased with the progress she is making. However, it is obvious to us now that Karen’s recovery is going to take a long, long time. It could be a year or longer before Karen is able to go back to work.Karen’s parents and I have been touched by the response from her friends and associates. We tell her about the blog, and how everyone is rooting for her recovery. We appreciate your kind words and your sincere concern for her.
Many of you have asked us how you can help Karen, so I thought I would take this opportunity to tell you.
The first is by Gifting Annual Leave. For those of you who either work for a federal agency, or who know someone who does, gifting annual leave is an excellent way to help her stay on her feet.
Unfortunately, Karen only has enough leave left to carry her through to May 17th. If Karen’s leave runs out she will have to go on long-term medical leave, and will likely get a significant reduction in her pay. Our hope is to bank enough gifted leave to keep her paychecks intact, and her health insurance in force. If you are a federal employee, or if you know someone who is, there is a very simple procedure to move some of your annual leave to Karen.
Another way to help Karen is financially. For the period that Karen was at Inova Fairfax Hospital – March 26th through April 20th, the hospital bill alone was $168,000. This does not include the bills for the individual doctors, and we expect the total amount to exceed half a million dollars. Thank goodness Karen has very good insurance with the Library of Congress, and most of this will get paid for. However, we are beginning to see some bills arrive in the mail that require co-payments, etc. These bills could ultimately run into the thousands.
So, I have set up a separate checking account in Karen’s name in which we can accept donations to help Karen offset these expenses. Any contribution you can make to this fund will go a long way to help ease Karen’s mind. The last thing I want her to do is begin to stress out about money. Those of us who are close to her know how proud Karen is of her home, and the small nest egg she has worked so hard to build. She would be devastated if she thought it was at risk because of her accident
My hope is to raise enough money to cover all of these expenses, and if we all could pitch in a little bit I know it can be done.
Please see the various links to the right to either gift leave or contribute money.
You have all been so wonderful in you concern for her, and I know I can speak for her parents when I say we have all been touched by the kind words in the blog, your wonderful cards, and the nice gifts some of you have sent. They all have gone to make her recovery the success it has been so far, but as I said earlier, we still have a long road ahead of us.
I also can pass these words on from Karen herself . . . “Thank you”
posted by Karen's Blog @ Thursday, May 11, 2006
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