Dear Rye Community Member,
There is a family in our town that needs our help!
Lisa Gagalis grew up in North Hampton, Greg grew up in Hampton Falls, and now they live in Rye. They are the parents of three beautiful children- 7 year old Sophia, and 4 year old twins Graham and Penelope.
A few months ago, Penelope (or “Pelpy”, as her family calls her) started having seizures. Doctors first diagnosed her with epilepsy, but when the seizures per day kept increasing (sometimes 100+ per day), and wouldn’t respond to medication, they discovered that she in fact suffers from a rare autoimmune disease called Rasmussen’s encephalitis (also known as Chronic focal encephalitis).
At this point, doctors have decided that the “best” course of treatment is surgery. On June 9th, they will disconnect the left hemisphere of her brain. This will probably leave Penelope unable to walk or talk, and perhaps paralysis on the right side of her body. The rehabilitation will be grueling, requiring daily physical and occupational therapy visits for up to a year.
Health insurance will cover a very limited amount of these visits The rest will be out of pocket.
On June 26th, we will have a fundraiser at Community Oven in Hampton NH to offset some medical expenses. As part of the event, we will have a mobile silent auction (check out the site here:Â https://www.501auctions.com/teampelpy/?mobile=0
Will you consider donating (either an item or money) to his event, either personally or through a corporate sponsorship? We are expecting hundreds of people will log on from June 19th-26th, so in addition to racking up a ton of good karma, you will hopefully get some business too!
We have a lofty goal of raising $20,000 that night, so the closer you can get us, the better!
You can either mail a donation to Nina’s attention at 31 Birchwood Drive, Rye NH 03870 or, If it’s easier, one of us would be happy to come pick anything up, just let us know when/where.
Thank you so much for considering helping this family. We hope you will be a proud supporter of Team Pelpy!
