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This letter is to express my appreciation for the generosity you have shown to many of the families with whom I work at the Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery. As you know too well, the stress that the parents of a seriously ill child face cannot be ennumerated. So many of them also can't be fixed. Thankfully, due to the help of Jenna's Rainbow Foundation, some of the financial burdens that families face can be alleviated..... Your support not only helps practical issues and others, it also sends families the much needed message that they are not alone in their challenge. No words can ever express how important that message is.
Jenna's Rainbow Foundation had provided a meal program that delivered a child-friendly dinner one night per week to patients at Beth Israel. The response was overwhelmingly positive. In fact, one family who participated promised to independently sponsor another dinner for the rest of the entire floor. The food was served in the playroom, which encouraged children and their families to get out of their rooms, get together, share a laugh and a nice meal - two important elements in healing.
The following are examples of how JRF donations are helping those in need. Privacy of all individuals has been maintained.
In the fall of 2003 Jenna's Rainbow Foundation was asked by Beth Israel North to provide aid for a family with a 5 year old boy with an inoperable brain tumor. The only way the child could leave the hospital and be attended to at home was if JRF funded homecare. Help was particularly essential in this situation because the child's father had died of cancer several months before and there were two healthy siblings at home as well. Everyone who donated time and money to JRF helped this child spend the remainder of his life at home with his family. A last wish was met and an unbearable journey, in some respects, eased.
JRF assisted a family who required childcare for two children at home while their toddler was undergoing months-long intensive treatments for an otherwise fatal tumor at Tomorrow's Children at Hackensack Hospital in Hackensack, New Jersey. At the Spring Fair in May, the family came by to express their appreciation to JRF for the generous funds provided during their crisis.
JRF received a request to help a high school boy who over the years has been affected by several brain tumors. As a result of these recurrences, he is quadriplegic and requires round-the-clock nursing care. Only 50% of homecare is paid for by the government and there is no health insurance available to help cover a child receiving this level of nursing care at home. JRF has been able to supplement the cost and meet the challenges of shrinking insurance coverage. Our assistance allows this young man to live at home with his loving family, continue to go to school and be an inspiration to all who know him.
