Hi to everyone from a very excited and stunned fellow boxer,
I am not a big advocate of crossposting but I feel that there is a good
reason for what I am about to post. Some of you may have seen the story
on Mark Pepe's blog on Atlas Quest about the plight of some friends of
ours from southeastern Pennsylvania, Dogs with Wings. In case you
haven't, here is what was posted:

Last summer, a new boxing couple joined the southeastern Pennsylvania
boxing community. Their trail name is Dogs with Wings and, Sherry, the
carving half of the team, and I got to know each other through emails
after she found several of my boxes near her home . We have been
corresponding for many months and I was fortunate enough to actually
meet the team in person on one of my ventures to Hibernia Park in
Chester County, PA. She loves letterboxing and has proven to be a
really good carver. Well, Sherry and Lee are having some difficulties
right now and I would like to try to help her out. Lee was on his way
to work about a month ago when he was struck with a great deal of pain
and had to be taken to the hospital in an ambulance. From the Paoli
Hospital, where he was diagnosed with an extremely rare and severe case
of pancreatitis, he was airlifted to Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia
and placed on a ventilator. He sank into a coma and the disease began
to attack some of his other organs. He was given a 20% chance of
survival at that time.

As if this wasn't enough, there is more to their story. Lee had just
started a new job within the last year so his short term disability
benefits are very limited. Sherry had worked up until two months ago,
but since she is studying to be a nurse, she quit her job so that she
could focus full time on finishing her degree. Sherry has obtained a
job at a local hospital but won't begin working till July. So this
means that they now have very limited income. Sherry is spending as
much time at Jefferson as she can as well as finishing up her classes
and is totally exhausted, physically and emotionally. The hospital and
the school are about two hours drive away from each other which places
another burden on her. She talks longingly of being able to walk in the
woods with her husband again and of being able to enjoy the simple
pleasures of letterboxing. She is totally in love with her husband and
is very broken by this terrible illness.

When I spoke to her last night, she gave me some good news. After a
month in a coma, Lee has finally regained consciousness and was removed
temporarily from the ventilator that has been keeping him alive. The
prognosis is much more encouraging now than it was a month ago. The
doctors believe that the damage to his lungs may heal itself but his
pancreas is severely damaged. They are not sure what to expect from
anything else. The only thing that they ARE sure of is that recovery is
going to take some time.

So this brings me to my plea for help. We are asking for the
letterboxing community to give something to this couple in the form of a
flat donation or a pledge to any participant in the Road Rally. The
pledge would be for each box found during the Rally, either those
planted by the Rallymaster or the "distractions" planted by various
participating teams. You can obtain information about the Rally at
roadrally.blogspot.com which also gives the details of last year's
Rally. So far there are seven teams signed up for the race with more
expected shortly.

The message above is what was posted but there have been a few more
details added since then. Crayola Posse, who are two of the best
carvers that I have seen, have volunteered to make an event stamp to be
given to anyone who donates. Although it hasn't even been designed yet,
I KNOW that you won't be disappointed in their work. I would also like
to collect a copy of every contributor's stamp to add to a logbook for
Sherry and Lee. Please let me know if you can help in any way by
contacting me at janila at dejazzd.com.


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