Please help NHDUG founder Seth Cohn & family

Hi everyone, this topic came up at the Manchester meetup last week and all agreed it was worthy of a post. I hope this will reach some who have not heard the news yet. I am also posting this to both the NH and Boston groups since many people there as well know Seth -- hopefully that is ok.

Seth Cohn (http://drupal.org/user/14944) is the founder of the New Hampshire group, is a long time Drupal developer and been active in the community over the years -- he and his family are going through a difficult time after a terrible accident that his wife Chris suffered recently. I am pasting here Seth's note from Facebook that includes the story in his own words. Please take a moment to read and visit the links at the end to see how you can join us to help Seth & Chris with a donation, volunteering time, and more. He has long been a true friend of Drupal and the community, it is my hope that we can return that and then some in their time of need.

Thank you!

My apologies in advance for the lack of a personal response. If I tried to write to everyone personally, I'd be overwhelmed and I need to keep my attention and focus on my wife's future and recovery.

First of all, thank you ALL for your love and support and prayers and more... The level of support from everyone has been a lifesaver for me, as well as Chris. I am touched beyond words, and as everyone knows, if I'm speechless, that's really saying something. That's one reason it took a week to get this out there.

Some people haven't heard many details, so to revisit the situation: On Tuesday evening, I'd left home about 6pm for a 6:30 Recycling commitee meeting in the center of Canterbury. At 6:35ish, when it was clear that only myself and one other person were attending, we cancelled the meeting and I drove back home, about 5-10 minutes away. Arriving home, when the dogs greeted my car in the driveway, at first I didn't think anything of it, just that Chris was finishing her walk with them, and they'd been attracted to the car, and so I got out, and called for Chris. In response, a very faint 'Seth, help Seth' reached me. I discovered Chris on the ground behind our house, out of sight from the road, on her side, unable to feel her legs, and in huge pain.

A railing on one of our porches had given away, without warning, and she'd fallen 15 feet. Checking on her quickly, I ran inside, grabbed the cordless phone, and called 911, and got back out to her. Canterbury Fire and Rescue arrived in short order, and once the ambulance arrived, she was put on a stretcher board, and into the ambulance, taken to Concord Hospital, and after some examination there, was medi-flighted to Mass General in Boston for their trauma team to look over.

A huge "thank you" must go to Jenn Coffey, for her love, her support, and her knowledge. (If this accident had happened 24 hours earlier, Jenn would have been one of the ones on duty at Concord Hospital. As it was, she spent the first 24 hours with us in Boston, and kept a watchful eye on Chris' wellbeing and kept me sane, with both of us on little sleep.)

On Wednesday, the doctors operated to insert rods and pins to hold the damaged section of Chris' spine in place and stabilize, about all they could do. While the cord is intact, it was certainly traumatized. If I'd arrived after another hour (the usual meeting length), if she'd hit her head or body on the rocks below, broken a limb, bled, been impaled by any of the railing pieces she fell with, or any number of other bad things, it could have been far worse. I felt right away that someone was watching out for Chris. Seems odd to say that, given that she cannot currently feel from her waist down, but I remain hopeful that recovery can happen. I have encouraged as many people to pray and otherwise think positive thoughts, we need every possible advantage she can get here.

After spending the rest of the week in bed, on pain meds and still in pain and nauseous, Chris' now ready to move to a rehab center, to begin the long journey of dealing with this tragedy. I don't know how long she'll be there until she is ready to come home. My guess is it'll be many weeks, and likely more like a few months.

Chris was acting as the primary breadwinner, while I had focused on politics, and put much of my web development consulting on hold. Luckily, an opportunity was nearly ready for me to pick this up again right away, and hopefully still spend time with Chris as well as she goes through her therapy.

Our house is going to need work. For those unaware, in March, an ice dam on the roof caused major water damage to many rooms, and we hadn't yet repaired most things. We have no kitchen right now, for one thing. The custom kitchen cabinet work we planned, which was about to be built, will now have to be changed to accomodate Chris's new needs, and while we just finished some major interior work replacing many walls (and plumbing, electric and more) some of the new work (all of it not yet painted) will have to be ripped out, as well. Doors widened, bathrooms re-adjusted, and the biggest issues: the stairs. Our house is 3 levels, and even trying to make 1 level of the house usable for her will require work, let alone trying to ensure she can get to and use the rooms we just spent all the time and money restoring and improving, including a new master bathroom. Ramps and other accessibility devices will need to be installed, and perhaps even an elevator, if possible. At first I pondered selling the house, but given the state of it, we'd need to finish fixing it up first and then risk the poor real estate market on top of that.

Without the vast community of support, we'd be lost already. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Outstanding mention has to go to
Cathi for flying to her sister's side and staying there like glue.
Tammy and Dan for babysitting Harley and Millie and so much more
George and Rhonda for their support in many ways
JeanMarie for cats, clothes, car rides and caring
This list could go on, and I'm sure I'll add to this list, there are so many willing to help in so many ways.

If you've donated already, thank you! Donations are still welcome (and always will be). No matter how much insurance will cover or won't, no matter how good the care received, no matter how big the donation pot seems right now, sadly I know we're going to need all this help. It's hard for me to begin to imagine the scope of what is needed, and every time someone suggests something else I didn't think of yet, I realize what a huge task is in front of us. Not just cash, but time and energy are welcome too, from fixing the house, to fundraising, to just being there with a hug or a shoulder to cry on at the right time. Just opening up an email or any of the many facebook posts has helped me to handle this crisis far better than I would have otherwise, I know that as a fact. The network of friends that have volunteered so far astound me, and bring tears to my eyes, and I don't know how I can say anything but 'thank you' again.

Yours,
Seth

Info: join Friends of Chris Lopez and Seth Cohn group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/114597561966564
DONATE: http://garthwaite.chipin.com/chris-lopez or http://seth.naturalrightscouncil.org
(Larger donations are best done directly (contact me), to avoid paypal issues, in gold/silver etc...)
Sign up to VOLUNTEER (you will be contacted if/when needed): https://www.lotsahelpinghands.com/c/643834/login/
Pray, send healing energy, or just think positive thoughts about Chris' recovery - the more the better.