Dear Jack Vasel Memorial Fund Board Members,

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your gift of $3000.00 to our family in a time of extreme need. 

The journey to become parents has been long and painful for us. We tried to have a baby for almost two years with no success. When we finally learned the possible cause of our trouble and a possible solution, we were able to conceive the next month. We were overjoyed to learn that we were finally expecting. Besides some unexplained bleeding in the first trimester, we were having an uneventful pregnancy until we went to our 20 week anatomy scan on November 28, 2011. The baby looked healthy and we found out she was a little girl. Then we went upstairs to see our doctor and found out that Kate was already dilated 2 cm. She was rushed by ambulance to a nearby hospital where over the next two days the doctors tried everything to save the pregnancy. As Kate was on the operating table to put in a cerclage, or a stitch to hold the baby in, her water broke. We finally had no choice but to deliver, and Kimberly Hope was born on November 30, 2011 and lived for 24 precious minutes.

The medical bills for four days in the hospital, an ambulance ride, a number of tests, delivery, an operation after delivery, funeral and burial expenses, and much more, were difficult for us to handle even with good insurance and two incomes. With your generous gift, we were able to pay off all our expenses prior to becoming pregnant again.

We are now 22 weeks pregnant with our son and this time Kate was able to have a preventative cerclage placed. So far it is doing its job and we are hopeful that this baby will not be born until very close to term. The expenses are once again piling up, but we are so thankful to have a clean slate on our medical bills going into a second challenging pregnancy with its own numerous expenses.

We were touched by the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund even prior to our sad event and Michael has donated his miniature painting services for the past two years and will continue to do so. He will donate a second set of miniatures this year in honor of Kimberly. We have also been inspired to create a scholarship fund, with help from our parents, in Kimberly’s honor for a graduate from our former high school who will go to college to major in nursing, as the nurses were very comforting to us as we went through such a traumatic time (Kimberly is named after one, in fact). We gave our first award in May 2012 and it was a very healing experience.

We are so thankful that an organization like this exists. You are welcome to share our story with others and thank you again so much for what you have given our family.

Sincerely,

Michael and Kate Jordal

To the Jack Vasel Memorial Fund organizers,

My family and I wanted to sincerely thank you all for the extremely generous donation that literally allowed us to financially survive what would have otherwise been a truly devastating summer. My 3-year old son, Noah, a liver transplant patient, became deathly ill this past early June and had to be flown on an emergency flight up to Amplatz Children's hospital in the Twin Cities from our current home in Tampa, Florida. Were it not for your incredibly gracious donation, our entire financial picture would have collapsed as I had no vacation time in the books with my current job (as a newer employee, I hadn't had time to have some saved up for this type of emergency) and I wouldn't have been bringing in any money to support our family during this difficult time.

Not only did this kind donation save our family, financially, it also provided us with something nearly as valuable - peace of mind during a nerve-wracking summer. Thanks to the funds you released to us, we didn't have to stress about where our next meal would come from or how to pay for gas or hospital parking or our rent and bills back home in Florida. It was literally a family-saving gesture and we will never forget it (nor baby Jack in whose name this fund exists). Thank you, again, SO very much for helping us in our time of need.

Happily, Noah survived this dangerous time and is now doing so much better and definitely on the road to recovery and better health.

May God Bless you richly and help the fund to grow for others,

Very best regards,
The DuLac Family (Tony & Tracy, Logan, Noah, and Rory DuLac)