Prayers, Letters and Updates
Pray for Jessica Jerke
Friends and relatives,
Many of you already know of our daughter Jessie's physical situation. For those of you hearing about it for the first time it will come as a shock to hear of the tremendous challenge facing Jessica and our family. Jessie and Jeannie and I want you all to know that it is Jessie's faith in God and hope for the future that carry us forward every day. We will send you occasional updates on her condition. Feel free to let others know of her situation.
First off, Jessie is a vibrant, energetic 19 year old Christian woman who is a 2 tour alumni with Continental singers and had completed her freshman year at Colorado Christian University studying music education. She is an avid tennis player and has used her Continental experience to teach Christian dance to middle school aged girls.
This April Jessie complained of toothaches, headaches and extreme fatigue. She was able to finish spring semester but it wasn't easy. On May 16th she sang 2 solos in a wedding for a friend in our Church. She began to lose her physical balance. She developed what we came to know as "ataxia" which is a complete loss of balance. Jessie checked into the hospital June 11 for tests. Jessie spent 2 1/2 months in the hospital including 2 weeks in Intensive Care. She came home August 31. She hasn't been diagnosed with a specific condition or disease. Many conditions ranging from Aids to West Nile have been ruled out. She does have an undiagnosed neurological impairment.
Jessie walks with a walker, but only with a "spotter" to help provide balance. She uses a wheel chair for any distance beyond 50 feet. Jessie has hand tremors similar to how Parkinson's presents. Her speech is slurred and her vision is impaired. Reading is limited. Jessie has problems with eating, swallowing and breathing. She sleeps at night with the aid of a bi-pap machine that many sleep apnea patients use to assist breathing while sleeping.
Jessie is home now while we wait for test results to come in. She has had 6 spinal taps, numerous MRI's, skin and muscle biopsies, and dozens of vials of blood drawn. Many of these samples are being studied in places we've all heard of like Johns Hopkins and Mayo. Depending on what the results show we will outline a course of action for Jessie with her physicians.
We hope and pray for the best but need your prayers as well. Jessie appreciates visitors, in person, phone, mail and email.
Our contact information:
Mail: 22911 WCR 39
La Salle Co. 80645
Thanks,Bill Jerke
Mayo Clinic
Friends and relatives,
Thank you for the wonderful outpouring of love, support and prayer these last few months. We are headed to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota on Monday October 12th. Jessie will have appointments to evaluate and hopefully diagnose her condition. We hope to know more by the end of next week.
There is a great article about Jessie in today's Greeley Tribune. The link is: http://www.greeleytribune.com/article/2009910069978
The article isn't clear about contributions. Our Church, First Baptist of LaSalle, and the Deacons will create a fund to be used for Jessie's benefit. It could be used for future medical needs not paid for by insurance or future college expenses for her or other deserving students, if Jessie's needs are being met. This provides for tax deductibility for contributors and insures a compassionate 3rd party will be responsible for handling these funds.
The other suggested charity is Children's Hospital. Contributions to Children's are also deductible, but will not be going specifically to Jessie's current bills. Our insurance and parental co-pays and matches are adequate at this time.
We hope that you are able to attend the benefit Sunday afternoon October 18 at Northridge High School Auditorium from 2-5. We don't have a Bronco game to compete with! Northridge High is located in northwest Greeley just north of the intersection of 4th st and 71st av.
We want to thank Kay Hanson and her daughter Austin Wikum for organizing the event. Quality music groups ranging from the Greeley Children's Chorale and the Colorado Christian Women's Choir to Elvis Presley and legendary 70's rock band Firefall will perform.
All contributions can be sent to our home at:
22911 WCR 39
LaSalle, Co. 80645.
Thanks for your love and prayers,
Bill Jerke
Grateful for all those who participated in benefit
We want to express our heartfelt thanks to the many people who helped on the recent musical benefit for Jessica Jerke.First and foremost, we want to thank Kay Hanson and Austin Wikum for thinking of the idea, organizing and promoting it. Jessica's boyfriend, Matt Kniss, deserves special thanks for helping organize, taking on emcee duties and performing. Dan England of The Tribune wrote a beautiful article detailing Jessica's history, medical condition and the musical benefit.
We thank Northridge High School and Greeley-Evans School District 6 for graciously hosting the benefit in their auditorium.
More than 100 people performed in about 15 different acts. While we can't thank them all here, we do want to acknowledge several special acts. Special thanks go to the Greeley Children's Chorale. Jessica, a six-year member as a child, joined the Chorale for their finale, “River in Judea.” Director Pam Korth remarked afterwards that Jessica remembered every word of the song.
The University of Northern Colorado Sugarbears dance team performed well, showing their desire for community service. The Colorado Christian University women's choir, of which Jessica is a member, sang beautifully.
Finally, the King himself, Elvis Presley, a.k.a. George Gray, performed focusing on Elvis' Gospel music. Thanks to all of the other groups as well who helped make the day meaningful.
We want to thank all the contributors to Jessica's fund. Thanks to Jeff and Shelly Cogburn and the First Baptist Church of La Salle for administering the fund. It will be used for major needs Jessica may have in the future with respect to transportation, communication and college.
Jessica's condition remains challenging. She is in a wheelchair, but her voice seems stronger and her signature more legible. We are strengthened by the constant outpouring of love from God's children in our lives.
May you and yours have a Merry Christmas.
Jessie Jerke and the entire Jerke family, La Salle
Friends and relatives,
First, I must apologize for being overly dramatic. I will attempt to explain throughout this update. We had a wonderful experience at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester Minnesota. Thanks to Harris Aviation, Ken and Susan Harris, and volunteer pilots we flew from Greeley-Weld International Airport in a private plane to Rochester in about 3 hours each way. We went in on a Monday and came home on Friday. We were able to see Dr. Marc Patterson, chair of pediatric neurology at Mayo for a three hour initial examination/interview. They are thorough and impressive. We also visited with Dr. Kirmani, a genetic Doctor. Patterson is from Australia while Kirmani is from Pakistan. Dr. Patterson counseled us to understand that it's less important to find a name for Jessica's condition than it is to treat it. He gave us direction and hope while also presenting sobering information about Jessica's condition.
On Sunday, the 18th, was Jessica's benefit. Many thanks to Kay Hanson and daughter Austin Wikum for organizing the event. Hundreds of people attended, dozens of singers and dancers performed including Jessica's boyfriend, Matt Kniss who served as MC and also performed Somewhere over the Rainbow and My Girl. Two different groups performed that Jessica is a member of: Greeley Children's Chorale and the Colorado Christian University Womens Choir. Jessica went out in her wheelchair to help the Children's Chorale sing their finale- River in Judea. Jessica remembered every word- even though it had been years since she sang with the kids. It was really moving.
The diversity of the groups ranged from UNC's Sugar Bears dancers to Tony Rosario whose musical backround includes Firefall, to George Gray and his Elvis show. It was a magical afternoon that Jessica and family are very thankful for.
The next week Jessica was admitted to NCMC in Greeley where, under the direction of Doctors Siegel and Rademacher, she received plasma Pharesis treatment. This is similar to kidney dialysis and replaces "bad blood" with new plasma. The hope is that this new blood will overwhelm the bad cells.
The week following Mayo and benefit also brought in new test results from Philadelphia where long time, published, researchers discovered her cells doing things that they had never seen before. Jessica's blood and spinal fluids have been tested in Philadelphia, Buffalo, Baylor, Atlanta, Mayo and Johns Hopkins. She has been examined by Doctors from Greeley to Mayo to Aurora to Penn State. These Doc's come from Australia and Pakistan and Belgium and yes, the USA, where they all choose to practice. Her cerebellum portion of the brain is under constant attack- from herself. It appears that renegade blood cells known as "T" cells have changed in some way and Jessica's own immune system is fighting those T cells. The problem is that the T cells are indistinguishable from the cerebellum itself. This is an auto-immune condition. Since the cerebellum controls balance, vision, voice, swallowing, hearing it means that everything that Jessica does is extremely impaired.
Jessica is now at home undergoing oral treatment of a medication that is similar to chemo-therapy. It doesn't seem to have the negatives of regular chemo such as nausea and hair loss. Since Jessica is undergoing treatments that suppress her own immune system she is going out into the public much less. We ask that visitors make sure they are feeling well. Colds and flues would be rough on her.
We are hopeful and prayerful and thank all of you for your support these past few months. We believe strongly in both the professional medical establishment and God, our Creator. We believe that there is meaning in all of this. Jessica, her courage and testimony are a tremendous example of human spirit when it is blessed with God's Love. While we don't know of his plan or why it has to be so challenging to one of His most loving children- we know that He is working in our lives. Jessica's and our question to you the reader is: How will you make this event a powerful life-changer for you- in your life?
Bill Jerke
Feb 2010
Friends and Family,
I must first apologize for the long time since my last update. Tiger Woods was silent for about the same amount of time, but for different reasons! It has been a challenging winter but hope springs eternal.
Around Thanksgiving time Jessica awoke from a short nap with significant amnesia. She doesn't remember her birthday party the previous week, the benefit at Northridge High School or the trip to the Mayo Clinic. It's believed that an anti-biotic for an infection she was being treated for was the cause of the amnesia but that is speculation. She has not recovered those memories and continues to have memory issues today.
Jessica has been on a form of chemotherapy called cellcept for the past few weeks. It seems to have no side effects and we are hoping for measureable improvement in her condition.
Following a problem with Jessica's bi-pap machine in which she didn't receive adequate oxygen and didn't exhale enough carbon dioxide, Jessica was admitted to Children's Hospital a couple of weeks ago. Jessica received a treatment of rituximab. This was administed IV and is to work on her "B" cells in such a way that may improve her condition with her rogue "T" cells.
During her last stay at Children's a new MRI test was conducted on Jessica's brain. The MRI indicated that the damage that was confined to her cerebellum is now spreading to the rest of her brain. This is not good news.
We are at a point in Jessica's treatment where we realize that there may not be a miracle with respect to Jessica being fully restored. What we are choosing to focus on is the wonderful miracle of God's Love as demonstrated by his children. We are choosing to seek quality in the things that we do. We invite you to join us on our journey.
Next Sunday, Feb. 28th, I will be the speaker at our Church, First Baptist of LaSalle. The title of my speech/sermon will be: God's talking, Are you listening?
Services begin at 10:45.
Directions to the Church: Take HWY 85 to LaSalle, turn east at the stoplight, veer to the left onto Todd avenue, 2 blocks east to the Church.
On Tuesday, March 23th, I will be the speaker at the Greeley Christian Businessmen's lunch at the Clarion Hotel at 8th and 8th in downtown Greely at 12:00. My subject will be the same. Both speeches will discuss Jessica's situation from a position of hope for mankind.
The next evening, Wednesday March 24th, our Church will host the Colorado Christian University women's choir. Jessica is a member of this choir and the members wanted to come to LaSalle to do a concert and to visit Jessica. It is at 7:00, free, and outstanding Christian entertainment.
We are traveling in March to Chicago to a conference on Ataxia. This is the clinical word for the symtoms that Jessica is afflicted with. We will hear from experts, see the latest equipment and make new friends. Please pray for our safe travel.
You can see from our schedule that we are far from giving up but are actively asking God, What would you have us do to advance your Kingdom. Again, we ask you to join us on our journey, but if you decide to come to Chicago, please get your your own room!
Love,
Bill, Jeannie and Jessica Jerke
Rehab Spring 2010
There have many changes in the last year for Jessi, she has had some setbacks that have affected her memory and mobility. Last year she spent some time at a rehab center learning how to be more independent. This was a great experience for her. Unfortunately Jessi had contracted some infections that has made her ataxia even worse and she has some serious memory issues. Here are some pictures of her stay at rehab.
