URGENT - Help Save A Dancer's Life - Literally!
Dance - Auction - Fund Raiser
There is an amazing person in our national dance community named Aja Gray Rossman who's life is being threatened by a MRSA infection. She is not elgible for medicaid and needs approximately $17,000 (of which about $6,000 has been raised) to perform a surgery to clean out the infection next week.
This is not an elective surgery. If she does not get the surgery, the infection will be fatal for her very soon.
Aja has spent her life helping children as a child psychologist, volunteering for the Red Cross in Disasters, assisting US Military Active and Veterans with mental health and giving of herself to help others. We're asking for your help to save her life.
To raise the remaining funds needed for her surgery next week (the medical facility will not work with her unless she has the full amount pre paid), we are hosting a Dance Fundraiser and Auction this Saturday, June 19th.
ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE GIVEN TO AJA GRAY ROSSMAN.
We are doing 3 things to raise the remaining approximately $12,000 she needs for her surgery.
1. You Set Ticket Price Donation - You decide how much you can afford to attend.
2. Silent Auction - Please bring things of value that you don't need or would care to donate to the auction.
3. Loan with Guarantee - We just came out of a Pandemic. A lot of people are hurting but if you are in a situation to "LOAN" a substantial amount, Brian Wong and Dance Villa, Inc (dba Chicago Dance Factory) will honor the loan and repay you. As I put the majority of my savings towards paying the staff and paying the studio rent and utility costs last year during lockdown and through the pandemic, I am unfortunately not recovered yet enough to be able to help Ms. Aja with the full amount. On top of that, we will be moving the school soon as there are plans to demolish our strip mall and the surrounding area for a new apartment complex. Were it not for all this, we wouldn't hesitate to help her.
If you are interested in part of this group, please let us know. We will wait to see what the fund raiser produces and then let the members of the Guaranteed Loan Team know how much is remaining. Please understand, it may be a year or more before the loan can be repaid. It all depends on how quickly we can rebuild the school to pre pandemic levels and higher.
Why go so far out on a limb for someone in the community who I only know through dancing with and seeing at events? Some of you have already asked this... There is a good person out there who's life is on the line for an amount I've seen spent without a second thought on luxuries, trips, and other non essential things. If there was a $10,000 check on a tree limb and a person hanging on the opposite side of it and you could only retrieve one, what would you choose. I trully believe all of you wouldn't hesitiate to save that person. I've seen great goodness in our dance community, both locally and nationally.
So please, join us, donate, or at least share this event with your friends and on facebook. Every positive action is helping to save a life.
Here's the schedule:
Saturday, June 19th
7:00pm Doors Open
7:30pm Novice / Intermediate West Coast Swing Dance Lesson with Brian Wong
Beginner West Coast Swing Lesson with Chicago Dance Factory Staff
8:30pm Open Dance Begins - Primarily West Coast Swing & Hustle with a dash of 2 step, salsa, and ballroom.
Ballroom dancers - WCS songs will be played that are duo WCS/Rumba, WCS/Bolero, WCS/Foxtrot, WCS/Samba
Silent Auction Begins - (Please bring anything of value you care to donate)
50/50 Raffle for Aja
12pm Dance Ends... unless there are a lot of dancers, then we'll continue until?
The admission to the dance is what ever you care to donate. Chicago Dance Factory is donating 100% of income from this event to Aja's fundraiser and will bear the staffing and other costs.
Please share this event. The more people who know about it, the more likely we will ensure that we save a life.
NOTE: The Back to Normal - Movie Night, Potluck Dinner and Dance will be rescheduled for a date in July. If you already have tickets, they can be used for this Saturday, held until our next event or refunded.
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Here is the situation directly from Aja:
I fell off a cliff on 7/28/1997, with acute injuries to my face (short version: actually, the entire left side of my body). With over 250 nonelective surgeries to repair the damage to my body and face, multiple rods and pins were grafted, as well as Ilizarov fixation (a type of external fixation used in orthopedic surgery to lengthen or reshape limb bones) three times for a few years.
During the time I was hospitalized as a kiddo, I contracted MRSA. That is Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus, which lays dormant in my body my entire life. It has resurfaced in my face.
MRSA is responsible for several difficult-to-treat infections in humans.Prior, I've only had MRSA manifest in my left leg, along with osteomyelitis (suuuuuuper gnarly bloody bone infection) and cellulitis.I was allergic to the only drug approved to cure it: Vancomycin. Hence, so many surgeries--back then.
I've been healthy for years--on the outside. However, over the years, the bones and tissues in my face and teeth (I landed face down, in-between boulders during the fall) have became gradually infected. Currently, MRSA is back, along with osteomylitis in my face, teeth sockets, gums, and jaws.
My dis-ease progression was that the #10 front tooth became suddenly loose and cracked. I went to a dentist in April, while working out of state, and was told that I needed to immediately come home and seek medical treatment that was too complex and not routine.
I noticed that I was having symptoms including personality and mood shifts, difficulty sleeping, eating, and general feelings of ICK, blurred vision, severe pain, difficulty with speech articulation, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, central nervous system tremors, confusion, cardiac PVCs ((when your heart chambers fire in the incorrect order)), aphasia (losing words), weakness, and headaches. I originally went to see a psychiatrist-neurologist because, hey, if you can't see it bleeding it might be a call to just do more inner work, but she suggested I go get a CBC panel and some radiological imagery.
Next, we met with my AWEEEEESOME neurologist (Dr. R) who advised adding in a Maxillofacial surgeon and another facial restoration dental specialist, because the original scans indicated masses--that led to a reinterpretation not as a brain tumor, but a mega MRSA problem. After visiting the lovely Dr. V (Maxillofacial surgeon), it was discovered that the masses are the only thing holding my teeth (front few and left upper) and in place.
The treatment plan is a 4-hour surgical procedure on 6/23/21 that will extract teeth pocketing about 16" of infection, remove said infection, alongside bone debridement, bone grafting, skin and tissue flaps and restoration of the front teeth/gums/nose area with a replacement bridge.
I need help covering the staggering fees--for the surgery handling the ICK, that's approximately....A gaggle of money.
Here's the current anticipated cost breakdown:
ICK removal surgery and replacement bone/teeth = $14,555
Expected prescriptions and medical supplies = $506
Recent ER visit = $900
Facebook fees = $434.99
TOTAL: $16,395.99.
I am very grateful for any and all support I love most to be of service to others and learning.
Being able to speak and not throw up all the time means restoration of health and freedom to continue The Work I most love, which is as a child school psychologist and volunteering with the American Red Cross in Disaster Mental Health, working with our brave troops in the Services to the Armed Forces, and tending to the Soul of the world as a first responder on the Mass Casualty team.
Lastly:
Pardon any confusion, to the incredible family, friends, strangers that have already donated--we are working on tech issues and have created this new page which integrates across technological platforms, so that the monies generated are directly accessible to us as swiftly as possible, which go directly to the service providers. Facebook takes a chunk of every dollar sent over this page--so even at this point, the ask is a higher dollar amount to include their fine print fees.
If you would like to donate directly, we have accounts directly linked via Indiana Members Credit Union, PayPal, CashApp, and Zelle which are connected directly to one account that my caregivers are able to manage and distribute to the providers on demand.
Thank you,
God bless you,
I love you,
Aja (& Tribe)
A lot.
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MASKS WILL NOT BE REQUIRED and should be worn at your own comfort. Bracelets with different colors will be provided for people who want to rotate partners and those who don't.
Any questions? Feel free to pm Brian Wong on Facebook or call or text the studio cell phone at 630-478-1335.