CELEBRATING SIX NEW GRANTS!

SIX NEW GRANTS!

We have been quietly and diligently working behind the scenes on SIX new grants! SIX! We are over the moon excited to be able to share our newest grant recipients with you and officially welcome them to the Move For Jenn family. Because of amazing people like you, the foundation is able to give the gift of movement to these incredibly deserving sarcoma survivors. We are even working on more as we speak, so this number is still GROWING! We couldn’t be more appreciative of your support.

Jillian

Help us welcome Jillian Coffee, a Tokyo 2020 Gold Medalist, to the Move For Jenn family! Jillian grew up in a small town in Texas where she and her family cared for many species of livestock. As Jillian got older, she started to fall in love with sports, especially volleyball. Jillian's talent landed her at her dream school, Texas Lutheran University, where she played volleyball. Unfortunately, after her first season she started to experience extreme knee pain, which was later diagnosed as ewing sarcoma.

Jillian said, "Because of that I had to withdraw from college and fight for my life. In that fight, I chose to have my left leg amputated and chose rotationplasty. With that came a huge blessing! I was able to not only pick volleyball back up, but was able to join the USA Sitting Volleyball Team and win my first Paralympic medal at Tokyo 2020!"

We are thrilled to be able to gift Jillian the gift of movement with a brand new Levitate Running Blade, so she can enjoy running again!

Carson

You may remember this smiling face from a wakeboarding video we shared a few weeks ago. Originally, we funded Carson with a BioDapt wakeboarding/snowboarding prosthetic knee and foot. It just arrived this past week and he is so excited to get back to the extreme sports he loves the most! We would like to give an extra special thank you to The Hanger Foundation for funding Move For Jenn with an Empowerment Grant. Combined with donations from the public, it allowed us to fully fund this very custom and specialized prosthetic for Carson.

After new conversations, we learned that Carson also needed an activity foot in order to play football again, as his regular walking foot did not have enough energy return for sports. We’re so excited to share that Move For Jenn grant recipient, Carson, has been granted a second grant for a Fillauer All-Pro activity foot, which will get him back on the football field as strong as ever!

Because of people like you, along with the incredible people at the Hanger Foundation, we were able to give Carson the gift of movement not just once, but twice. We cannot wait to share all that Carson can accomplish!

Anissa

Meet Anissa! Anissa is a below-the-knee amputee of 12 years after being diagnosed with osteosarcoma at the age of 12. Anissa is one incredible human and we feel so lucky to know her and have the opportunity to give her the gift of movement. Anissa is a full-time graduate student who spends her nights working with survivors at a domestic violence shelter.
 
Prosthetics must be replaced every few years and Anissa is living on borrowed time with her current prosthetic. She told us, “The reality of this situation is that when this current leg breaks down (because it will), I will be left with nothing to use to walk.”
 
Thanks to amazing people like you who support Move For Jenn, we are so excited to be able to gift Anissa a new socket and Fillauer All-Pro activity foot to help her live her best, most mobile life! She is excited to feel confident walking in everyday life, as well as getting back to one of her favorite hobbies, hiking!
 
Help us welcome Anissa to the MFJ family!

Patritsiya

Please welcome Canada native, Patritsiya, to the Move For Jenn family! Patritsiya is the first Canadian to receive a Move For Jenn grant. She is also the first person we were able to gift a hip articulation prosthetic to, which includes a hip joint, knee joint, and a prosthetic foot. Since this was a first for us, we want to thank our friend Aaron Holm, along with everyone on the Ottobock team for guiding us through this process.
 
After being misdiagnosed a number of times, Patritsiya was finally diagnosed with sarcoma in February of 2021. When Patritsiya came to us earlier this year, she was being asked to pay over $65,000 out of pocket for the prosthetic that she needed. We are beyond ecstatic that we could fully fund Patritsiya’s prosthetic needs, thanks to amazing people like you who support the Move For Jenn mission.

Riley

If Riley's infectious smile doesn't bring joy to your day then we don't know what will!

Unfortunately, Riley's story is all too familiar for most diagnosed with sarcoma. After a number of misdiagnoses throughout nine years of pain in her right foot, Riley demanded an MRI. Even after her MRI results showed a golf ball-sized mass, she was told it was probably a benign cyst. Riley had surgery to remove the mass, which was sent off for testing. Once her results came back from pathology, she was shocked to learn that she had synovial sarcoma.

Once referred to a sarcoma specialist, Riley learned that she would have to have a second surgery on her foot to ensure clean margins. Unfortunately, her surgeon found several additional spots, giving her the option to amputate or have a limb salvage surgery. Riley said, "My doctors highly recommended the amputation and I said, 'If it’s bad then get that thing off! I’m going to do whatever it takes to be around for my babies and husband!'"

We love Riley's outlook on life. In her grant application, she said, "I plan on living my life EXACTLY the way I have been! I’m going to make sure I still continue with all the things I love to do...wakeboarding, dirt bike riding, doing hair, and chasing after my kids. I look forward to being able to return to normalcy with my new normal, but mostly I hope that by sharing my story, I can inspire and help at least one person get through a similar situation and spread all the love and positivity that I have received! There is nothing I can’t do."

Riley was granted a BioDapt Versa Foot for wakeboarding so she can get back to her favorite sport. She and her husband are currently teaching their young daughter to wakeboard with them and we are beyond thrilled to provide Riley with the tools to better allow her to be the active mom she is!