FUNDRAISER for BABALU and family

Status
Not open for further replies.

Annihilus

Zen Powered by Death Buddhists
Joined
Nov 19, 2003
Messages
22,222
Reaction score
1,467
Points
113
Location
Sanger, TX
I thought that the fundraiser information posted in Babalu's thread might get lost in the shuffle, so wanted to post the article and information here. I figured we can use this thread for general donations and/or discussions of other fund-raising options that might come up. Here is the information provided by Babalu's Sister:

Michelle Fitzgerald says her brother's family is accumulating considerable expenses staying by his side, which is why she's organizing a benefit for them at the Elks in Middleboro set for December 3.

Checks should be made payable to:
Michelle Fitzgerald FBO Jeffrey Fuller

and they should be sent to:
Eastern Bank
226 Main St.
Wareham, MA 02571



Information to donate via Paypal:


We've also set up a PayPal account to make it easier to donate

Donate to Babalu87 via PayPal

frankw will personally match all PayPal donations!

Here is the article, in case anyone missed it:

Sep 14, 2010 5:28 pm US/Eastern
Fund Set Up For Local EEE Victim
Reporting by Ron Sanders

MIDDLEBORO (WBZ) ― She said it's hard to believe a mosquito could take out her brother, who's over six feet tall and who she thinks could be a lineman for the Patriots.

"It's just unfortunate that the wrong mosquito bit him," nodded Michelle Fitzgerald, talking about her brother Jeffery Fuller, who has been unconscious for about three weeks since he was diagnosed with potentially deadly EEE. "It's so vicious, the way this attacks a person. It's amazing how fast it happens. I had no idea until I saw it myself," she explained.

Speaking publically about her brother for the first time, Michelle Fitzgerald told WBZ's Ron Sanders her family was on vacation in late August when Jeffery began to feel ill with an excruciating headache and high fever. "I mean sick enough where he didn't know who his wife was, delirium kind of set in at that point."

His wife immediately took him to Mass. General Hospital where tests confirmed he had contracted Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). "They do know it was in southeastern Mass., somewhere in the Middleboro/Lakeville area, possibly as far south as Wareham," Fitzgerald said.

Fitzgerald said her brother, a 43-year-old father of a 5-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy, works indoors for a textile company but is an avid outdoorsman. "He hunts, he fishes, he gardens, he camps. I wish that people could know him the way I do because he's a wonderful person."

Public health officials have said spraying of nearly 300,000 acres in Plymouth and Bristol counties killed about 80 percent of the area's mosquitoes, but some infected ones remained. "I think the most important thing for families to know is that this happens to anyone. You can be at the ball field. You can be out for a walk. Please, please, please protect your family because it's not a nameless, faceless disease," urged Fitzgerald.

Her brother is on a feeding tube, but she said his vitals are stable, his temperature is good and he's fighting hard. "We'll be fighting right along with him and hopefully someday he'll be back to the same person he always was...oh he's walking out. He doesn't have any other choice. Someday," she affirmed through a smile.
 
Michelle Fitzgerald says her brother's family is accumulating considerable expenses staying by his side, which is why she's organizing a benefit for them at the Elks in Middleboro set for December 3.

Anni,

Although I will not be able to attend the fundraiser, I would like to donate some autographed Pats memorabilia to the event (signed photos, a few mini-helmets etc.).

Perhaps they could be used as prizes for a raffle, silent auction items, or in whatever capacity deemed best by Michelle to raise a few bucks.

If you could assist me in orchestrating this Anni, send me a PM with the adress of where the items should be mailed and I'll get together a package. Thanks.
 
Already marked in my calender. I'll be tossing a check to that address as well as I feel just terrible about this whole thing.

Thanks for the info anni and good call posting it up here.
 
Anni,

Although I will not be able to attend the fundraiser, I would like to donate some autographed Pats memorabilia to the event (signed photos, a few mini-helmets etc.).

Perhaps they could be used as prizes for a raffle, silent auction items, or in whatever capacity deemed best by Michelle to raise a few bucks.

If you could assist me in orchestrating this Anni, send me a PM with the adress of where the items should be mailed and I'll get together a package. Thanks.

Thanks, Den - frankw is actually going to be updating us with an address to send auction items to. Once he provides that, I'll update this thread with that info.
 
Geez, that is terrible. I would like to donate as I don't live in Massachusetts.
 
EEE victim's slow recovery 'excruciating'
By ANIKA CLARK
aclark@s-t.com
September 16, 2010 12:00 AM
Jeffrey Fuller's sister describes his recent fall into eastern equine encephalitis as "sudden and vicious." As Fuller remained hospitalized in Boston Wednesday, Michelle Fitzgerald is prepared for her brother's uncertain recovery to take much longer.

"The doctors are hopeful that he's going to get better, but unfortunately they don't know for sure and the process is excruciating," said Fitzgerald, 42, of Wareham, who was with Fuller on a family camping trip last month when a severe headache and high fever landed him in the hospital.

"It's not like it's going to be next week or even next month. ... He hasn't even been transferred to a rehab (center) yet."

A spokesman for Massachusetts General Hospital listed Fuller in fair condition Wednesday afternoon.

This marks improvement for the 43-year-old Middleboro husband and father of two, whose EEE case the Massachusetts Department of Public Health reported Aug. 27, when he was in critical condition.

While Fuller is this year's first and only confirmed human case of EEE in Massachusetts, his community has suffered its sting before. In 2006, the mosquito-borne virus killed 9-year-old Middleboro resident John Fontaine, and this summer, 13 of the state's 65 pools of EEE-infected mosquitoes have been collected in Middleboro. Forty-six pools have been trapped in Middleboro and bordering communities.

The town "was probably in the bull's eye" of mosquito isolates in Plymouth County this year, according to Anthony Texeira, superintendent for the Plymouth County Mosquito Control Project, who said Middleboro and surrounding towns historically have been centers of EEE activity because their cedar swamps are prime breeding grounds for Culiseta melanura.

Despite working indoors at a textiles mill, Fuller is "an avid outdoorsman, so I guess that was probably to his detriment, because that's, I'm sure, how he got EEE," Fitzgerald said. "He fishes, he hunts, he camps, he gardens."

Her brother is also an avid home brewer who made it to the semifinals in this year's Samuel Adams' Category 23 LongShot American Homebrew Contest. The contest's website lists Fuller's "Imperial Black IPA" among nine semifinalist beers that were drawn from nearly 800 entries.

"He's won gold medals for the beer that he's brewed," Fitzgerald said. "It's a passion for him."

In the period before he developed the symptoms of EEE on Aug. 21, Fuller spent time in the Middleboro-Lakeville area as well as in Wareham, according to Fitzgerald, who said he isn't believed to have contracted the virus at a Southeastern Massachusetts campground since he'd been there fewer than two days before falling ill.

By the night of Aug. 22, Fuller was in Good Samaritan Medical Center in Brockton and was transferred within hours to Boston's Mass. General Hospital, where he was later diagnosed with EEE.

Standing more than 6 feet tall, with a build Fitzgerald likened to a Patriots lineman, "he's not like a wimpy guy," she said. "So if he has a headache that he can't even stand up, then it's bad."

With about one-third of EEE patients dying of the rare disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fitzgerald said the first few days of his hospitalization were touch and go and "very, very scary," and she described how her emotions have since moved from fear, to anger at the state for not being more proactive with aerial spraying, to hope.

"He's actually doing a little better, which is good news," she said. Progress is measured in baby steps — signs of improvement that might seem insignificant to the casual observer but which mean a great deal to his loved ones.

"A lot of times what they do is they'll put pressure on certain points of his body and he winces now. He was not making any facial expressions before," she said. "There's more of a reaction, and it's a stronger reaction."

Fuller "does occasionally open his eyes, and stuff like that, but most of the time, yes, he is unconscious," she said. "But they do tell us, 'Keep talking to him because he can hear you.'"

In the meantime, in addition to standing by her brother's side, Fitzgerald is rallying behind his family by setting up a fund on his behalf at Eastern Bank and organizing a benefit at the Middelboro Elks Lodge on Dec. 3.

"We're just waiting for him to wake up, and it will happen. I know it will," she said. "He's someone who has a lot to fight for."



to help
For more information on the Dec. 3 benefit on behalf of Jeffrey Fuller, contact Michelle Fitzgerald at peaches0409@verizon.net. Donations can be made at any Eastern Bank branch, with checks made out to "Michelle Fitzgerald FBO Jeffrey Fuller." Fitzgerald said donations are accepted in person and by mail at all Eastern Bank branches.

Link
 
I thought it wouldn't hurt to notify the Patriots of the situation, so I sent a message to the front office email account.

Not sure if it will do any good or not, but it seemed like a good idea..

To whom it may concern,

This person, Jeff Fuller, is an avid Patriots fan, and has been a blogger on Patriots Planet forums for many years. Sadly, he has contracted EEE and been in a coma for a month now, and his family needs help.

http://wbztv.com/local/jeffery.fuller.eee.2.1912121.html

I consider him a friend, and knowing how big of a fan he was of the team, I wanted to notify you of his family's plight as they try and get through this tragedy. I hope the Patriots can do something on behalf of this poor family, for a lifelong fan.

Thank you.

 
Good thinking Baron, it can't hurt to try.
 
I thought it wouldn't hurt to notify the Patriots of the situation, so I sent a message to the front office email account.

Not sure if it will do any good or not, but it seemed like a good idea..

To whom it may concern,

This person, Jeff Fuller, is an avid Patriots fan, and has been a blogger on Patriots Planet forums for many years. Sadly, he has contracted EEE and been in a coma for a month now, and his family needs help.

http://wbztv.com/local/jeffery.fuller.eee.2.1912121.html

I consider him a friend, and knowing how big of a fan he was of the team, I wanted to notify you of his family's plight as they try and get through this tragedy. I hope the Patriots can do something on behalf of this poor family, for a lifelong fan.

Thank you.


I had that same exact thought, just hadn't gotten to it yet. It certainly doesn't hurt to try.
 
Done and done. I wish him a speedy recovery and my thoughts are with him.
 
I got a hold of Bab's sister yesterday in case anyone wants to attend the benefit. Let me know and I can let you know where to send money to get your tickets.
 
I got a hold of Bab's sister yesterday in case anyone wants to attend the benefit. Let me know and I can let you know where to send money to get your tickets.

I still need an adress to send off some memorabilia for use at the fundraiser if you know it TBL.

If not, Frank please let me know.
 
Sorry I haven't updated this thread.

If anyone has any items they would like to donate to Jeff's Fundraiser you can contact me at fw65@hotmail.com. There will be a silent auction along with other raffles, etc.

I also have tickets to the Fundraiser if you need them. They're $25 each, you can pay via PayPal if you like or email me and we can work something out. If you pay via PayPal, please make sure you make a note that you want a ticket and please provide your mailing address if it's different from the one PayPal has.

If you have any other questions, feel free to email me.

Thanks,
Frank
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top