Home tomorrow!

The day is almost here – Kevin will finally be coming home tomorrow afternoon! As much as he loves Magee, Kevin is excited to get settled at home and start making the most of his situation.

Thanks to everyone who helped get our house ready for Kevin to come home.  A few folks have expressed interest in welcoming Kevin home tomorrow afternoon. We certainly welcome anyone who is interested in attending to be there.  Please note that we live on a small street and parking might be tight.  Getting Kevin settled will be the first priority so we may have to keep visits brief.

You will be able to visit Kevin in the coming days and weeks, but we ask for your patience as we figure out his routine and the best times for visitors. Over the first few days, we ask that folks just check in with Joe Neary, JP, or Chris to let us know you’re visiting. In general, it is best to wait until at least 11 a.m. to visit. Once we have a routine down, we’ll have a better sense what hours make sense for Kevin to have visitors.

Special thank you to Magee

As Kevin’s time at Magee comes to a close, we wanted to especially thank everyone at Magee for their hard work to get Kevin ready to make this important transition.

Just yesterday, Kevin got out and about in Philadelphia for the first time since his injury with some of the team he has been working with, including Dave (respiratory therapist) and Amanda (occupational therapist). You can see Kevin having a good time in the city he loves in the picture below. Not pictured here is Alli (physical therapist) and the many nurses, therapists, attendants, and doctors at Magee who helped Kevin along over the past few months. We greatly appreciate everything that they’ve done for him. The experience there will be invaluable.

We’ll have more updates in the coming days as Kevin gets settled. Thanks again for everyone’s love and support!

Thanks for everyone’s patience recently in terms of updates for the website. We have been focused on fundraising and, most recently, getting everything ready for Kevin’s transition to our dad’s house. It’s hard to believe that will be happening in less than a week!

We want to reiterate how deeply thankful we are for everyone’s support. It has been an incredible few months and it’s pretty clear how much love people have for Kevin. With the support of our communities, businesses, family, and dear friends, we have been able to raise over $80,000 so far for the Kevin Neary Trust. We are overwhelmed by the support. That funding is going to go a long way to help Kevin in both the near and long term. We can’t thank you enough.

We are also very appreciative of the local news media coverage of Kevin’s story and the continued support of the community for Kevin. We posted the links over at the Friend of Kevin Neary facebook page – check them out!

Transition home

Kevin can’t wait to go home, and we can’t wait to get him there. There has been a lot of preparation going on, both at home and at Magee, for that to happen. We’ve been learning what we need to do to be prepared for Kevin’s transition. Kevin is slated to come home next Thursday, barring any unforeseen changes.

For the time being, we’ve set up a temporary space for Kevin, but we are getting the plans ready to put on the addition that will be Kevin’s space over the long term. We’ll be update you as that gets underway.

We will have more information on visiting Kevin at home once we get closer to the date and get him accommodated with his new space. And we know many of you will want to help, so we’re working on the best way to do that. Stay tuned.

More Events!

Although we have been focused on getting Kevin home, there have been a lot of requests from folks who want to host additional events to raise money for the Kevin Neary Trust, which we really appreciate. Right now, however, we can’t go ahead with every event considering how much is going on.

Details for the events that have already been scheduled are available under the Events tab at the top of the site. Check there for any updates. If there are any major updates, we will put up another post.

That’s about it for now. We hope to have more updates as we get closer to Kevin’s transition home!

Hello everyone!

We just have a brief update for today. 

First thank you to everyone who made last night’s event a huge success.  Thanks to your generosity we raised just over $21,000! 

A note on visiting Kevin today: Kevin had a difficult time sleeping last night and a pretty early morning.  He asked us to let everyone know that he will be going to bed early and wont be able to have visitors for the rest of the evening. 

More will come in the next few days. 

Thank you all so much!

JP

We’re very excited for tomorrow’s event at Boothwyn Fire Company! We have sold out and expect the venue to be at capacity. The event will run from 6-9 p.m., and we encourage everyone coming to think about carpooling as parking may be tight. The ticket price includes food and beverage.

We are in the process of getting raffle and auction items together. If you have a raffle item you’d like to donate but haven’t arranged a pick-up, please contact JP (nearyjp@gmail.com).

While we appreciate everyone’s desire to come out to support Kevin, we also don’t want to create a fire hazard (at the fire hall – we hear they’re sticklers about that sort of thing). If you were not able to get tickets, there will be an event on March 16^th at the Upper Chichester Recreation Center that we hope you will be able to come to. Please contact Joan Morrison (upperchirec@yahoo.com) for more information.

Online donations are ready!

Many of you have asked for a way to donate online. We know that this
is a quick and easy way to support Kevin, and we apologize for
the delay getting it up and running. We now have an online donation
system set up. Click here or on the Paypal link to the left if you would like
to donate electronically. We appreciate all of the support thus far.

Facebook page

We noticed that many people had pictures from the great North Bowl
event the other night. So we wanted to create a place where people can
share photos, stories, and other thoughts about or for Kevin. We
created a Facebook page that can serve as a sort of online community
for everyone to get updates about Kevin and share information about
events and other items.

Click the Friends of Kevin Neary like page to the left to sign up.

Special thank-you

We also wanted to send a special thank-you to Johnson Matthey and
their employees, who combined to donate approximately $19,000 toward
the Kevin Neary Trust. Joe Neary (Sr.) wants to thank the JM team for
being such a supportive and understanding group over the past few
months.

That’s all for now. Kevin’s continuing his rehab (in typical Kevin good humor) and we’re gearing up for the event this Saturday. We can’t wait to see folks on Saturday.

We’ll have more updates soon!

Kevin’s condition going forward

As you know, Kevin’s current prognosis is that he will require the assistance of a ventilator for the rest of his life. However, we are exploring all potential options to help him breathe on his own because that will be much more comfortable and reduce potential complications going forward.

Kevin is being considered for a surgery that could help him breathe on his own, if only part-time. The surgery’s goal would be to help restore the function of Kevin’s phrenic nerve, which controls the diaphragm. It’s important to note that we do not know whether Kevin will ultimately be eligible for the surgery or whether the surgery will have the desired effect. In the coming weeks we should have a better picture whether this is a possibility. But we’re hopeful this will help.

In other news, Kevin will be coming home in a few weeks, so we’re starting to get the house ready for his arrival. Which leads us to…

Equipment and other items

If you or anyone you know has medical equipment or other items that you think would help, we would love to hear from you. Please contact Marianne Kaplan at mariannekaplan@kaplancn.com

North Bowl – Huge Success

Thanks to everyone who came out and helped make the event at North Bowl such a great success! The best part was that Kevin was able to watch a livestream of the event, so he could see everyone bowling and the amazing community he has to support him.

We are so grateful for the amount of support shown at the event and for the amazing work of the organizers and hosts, especially the folks at North Bowl. All told, the event raised about $20,000 to help Kevin going forward.  We are completely overwhelmed by the amount of contributions everyone made to help Kevin. We have a lot of people to thank, so keep an eye out for a special thank you page coming soon.

We’re gearing up for the event next Saturday, which is sold out. T-shirts will be available at the event. See you soon!

Some quick updates on our upcoming events:

North Bowl – 1/29/12
The bad news is that spots to bowl in the tournament are sold out. The good news is that there is still plenty of room to come down to North Bowl, get some drinks and food, have a great time, and support Kevin. North Bowl has generously offered all of the nights proceeds to go to Kevin’s Trust!

Boothwyn Fire Co. – 2/4/12
There are only about 50 tickets left for the event!  Please make sure to email me at nearyjp@gmail.com or visit www.kevinneary.eventbrite.com to get your ticket!

Anyone who has raffle items for the event can contact me at nearyjp@gmail.com to make final arrangements.  Thanks to all who have offered to help or donate!

More to follow soon on Kevin and his progress…. please stay tuned!

Just a quick note to let everyone who was planning to see Kevin today that he is in therapy until 3:00 today, so he won’t be able to take visitors until then. (Normally he doesn’t have therapy on the weekends.)

Stay safe in the snow!

A week’s worth of updates….

It’s been a week since we last posted, so we thank everyone for your patience. It’s been a busy week with both of us  traveling and dad holding down the fort. There has been a lot of progress in terms of Kevin’s rehab and ways to support Kevin.

Here are the big notes for the week:

 Kevin’s progress…

There have been some great developments recently.  Kevin is now in a power chair that he can control with a straw. It’s really great that he can shift his own weight as needed — as you may know, weight-shifting is really important to help avoid sores that can lead to infections, which can delay Kevin’s rehab. We’ll get a better sense of what his final chair will look like as he gets closer to his discharge date, but for the time being he’s getting used to the functions of the chair.

Kevin has also been cleared to eat a full menu. This means he can eat whatever he wants, which is great news. Previously he had to eat pureed or ground hospital food (yuck!). Now he’s able to enjoy some of his favorites.

He has been in pretty good spirits the last few times we have been there. Thanks to everyone for continuing to come and visit. Hard to believe he will be home in about 3 weeks!

Events (including the NEW LOCATION for the Feb. 4th event)…
Updates on events will be on our events page but here are some highlights:

North Bowl
This looks like it will be a great event!  If you haven’t signed up already and are interested please contact leagues@northbowlphilly.com If you are not able to reach North Bowl please contact Joe at nearyjp@gmail.com.

February 4th
Thanks to an overwhelming response to the event on February 4th, we had to change locations. The event will now be located at the Boothwyn Fire Company (1405 Meetinghouse Road, Boothwyn, PA 19061). We have sold over 200 tickets and are quickly approaching our capacity. If you would like to purchase tickets in advance please visit www.kevinneary.eventbrite.com or email Joe (JP) at nearyjp@gmail.com

“Night for Neary” – March 16th
When: Friday, March 16, 2012
Time: 8:00 p.m. until 12:00 a.m.
Where: 8500 Furey Road, Upper Chichester, PA
Contact: Joan Morrison – upperchirec@yahoo.com

Offers for help from charitable organizations
Many of you have shared with us various charitable organizations that may be able to help us with expenses. We appreciate and welcome all of these. I twill take us some time to assemble the list and reach out to these groups. As these connections are made we will surely share them with everyone.

Online donations
We are still in the process of setting up a way for folks to donate online. We will post that to the website as soon as we do so. Thanks for your patience.

T-Shirts!
And last but not least, we have a design for Kevin t-shirts. Thanks to the folks who designed it and ordered it. We initially have ordered some that will be available at the events, but will likely be doing orders in the future. We’ll let you know how to get one — it’s sure to be a hot fashion commodity. The designs were approved by Kevin himself!

 We’ll have more updates in the coming days and weeks. Stay tuned and thank you all again for your support.

It’s hard to believe Kevin’s been at Magee for over a month! He continues plugging away at rehab, but there’s not much to report on that front. Kevin continues with his physical and occupational therapy so that he can gain as much independence as possible before coming home. He has been in really good spirits lately, as those of you who have visited probably know. Kevin was given a new trach tube that enables him to speak more easily, so he’s been entertaining his guests with his quick wit even more recently. Thanks to all of you who have visited and helped lift his spirits.

Events

A few of us met yesterday and made some progress on the several events being hosted to help with Kevin’s long-term needs. We know some of you have had questions about the events. We will have an update with more details on the events coming shortly that should address some of those. Stay tuned.

If you have any items you would like to donate for a raffle or silent auction, please email Joe (JP) at nearyjp@gmail.com.

Trust

We’ve set up an email for the Kevin Neary Trust. If you have any questions regarding the Trust or how you can help, shoot an email to kevinnearytrust@gmail.com. We are still looking at online options for giving, which we know is probably much easier for many of you. We will have that info available as soon as possible.

Thank you again!