Brothers,

I want to put out a challenge to all the Locals of the PFFSD and maybe extend it even further to the Locals of the US. My wife Kari suffers from a rare immune system disorder called CVID. Over the last 3 years she has developed other associated problems due to this disorder. In 3 years she has spent nearly 500 days in the hospital and has had 15 surgeries done on her abdomen to try and find the problem to correct it. We have seen doctors at Mayo Clinic in Rochester as well as had surgeries at St. Mary's in Rochester. We have been to the Medical Center in Omaha Nebraska and met with numerous doctors there as well. She sometimes goes for a month out of the hospital, sometimes just a couple of days. The only thing that they have been able to do is keep her loaded up on pain medicine and keep giving her fluids.

Recently Kari's brother set up a Facebook page for her to hopefully raise some money for us since so far this year in medical bills alone we have racked up $250,000. Insurance has been a big help but it doesnt cover all the costs associated with this illness. Due to her immune system being so weak we cannot hold a traditional benefit, a crowd of people could expose her to something fatal. The Facebook page is "Friends and Family of Kari Blais Meyerink", it has her story as well as our bank information if someone would care to donate.

The page has been a blessing in another sort though. We were contacted by Michelle Vogal from the "Alliance for Plasma Therapies", she runs this organization for pt.s with rare diseases and disorders. She has numerous contacts with doctors across the country that deal with these disorders and found one close to us and put us in contact with him. We see him on the 3rd of June to hopefully come up with a plan of action to help with Kari's illness. This organization is also doing a documentary of people with rare diseases and has asked Kari to be a part of it. The documentary is called "Dying for Help" and I am told that it will air on Health channels sometime this fall. If you want to check out the site its "dyingforhelp.com". They need help though to finish the filming of the documentary. They dont have big sponsors for the film so are basically going door to door asking for donations. I felt that since my wife would be a part of it that I should do what I can to help. My local, Local 1724, really stepped up and made a donation of $1000.00 to help out, Michelle told me that so far it is the largest donation to the cause. I am putting a challenge out to you to match or beat it, either way it will help not only my wife but many people who rely on the same medicines that my wife does for their illness. If you wish to donate, email me at smeyerink@tnics.com and I will send you the address to send money to.

Thank you all,

Steve and Kari Meyerink