Today’s post is a little more disturbing to relay but a story that must be told.
Jennifer and her family turned many years ago to a financial advisor to help budget their monies and to insure bill payment. Who of us have not wanted someone else to handle those details for us? Every day I wish someone would do it for me!!! The Linnabary family turned to an individual at Cinfed and for years had no reason to doubt that things were not being handled properly. When Jennifer was diagnosed with lymphoma this individual showed such compassion and sincere interest in insuring she did the right job for Jennifer, at least that is what Jennifer was lead to believe. About the time that Jennifer needed the first bone marrow transplant and her ability to work and as a result her income lessened she began to receive notices that bills were being paid late. When Jennifer confronted the individual at Cinfed handling her account, she was told, oh we don’t do money orders here at the bank and I had to go out and get one and mail it so I was a little late. Or listen you are a little short this month to be able to pay all your bills. I received some of those phone calls myself and jumped in readily to assist. Jennifer accepted the reasons as she had no foundation to believe this individual was not being forth right and honest.

On November 9th of 2011 Sandra Sicking was arrested by the Hamilton County Ohio Sheriff’s office on charges of multiple charges of crimes against individuals including a crime against an elderly or disabled person, Jennifer Linnabary. I refuse to degrade this site with posting Sandra Sicking mug shot here, but invite you to get a good look at the accused by using this link: http://www.jailbase.com/en/arrested/oh-hcso/2011-11-09/sandra-sicking-1448393.

I invite you to post her mug shot anywhere but here on this site. I do ask that however you use the information you post, that until she is found guilty that you temper your comments with the use of the word accused. We all are afforded a trial before our peers and are innocent until found guilty. HOWEVER the evidence is overwhelming. More details on the arrest of Sandra Sicking can be found at the Hamilton County clerk office web site at: http://www.courtclerk.org/case_summary.asp?sec=sched&casenumber=/11/CRA/35049.

All the information I am sharing here is factual and I have supplied the links to support those facts.
How can an individual take advantage of a person that comes to them in need? How can someone continue to take advantage of a person that is in the fight for their very life!
If you Google Sandra Sicking Cinfed you will note that she is listed as a Vice President of Contact Center for Cinfed Credit Union in Cincinnati – a VICE PRESIDENT!!!! http://www.jigsaw.com/scid42180889/sandy_sicking.xhtml?ver=5
I find Ms Sicking’s actions revolting and quite frankly sickening!!!! I find it equally as repulsive that Cinfed did not have the oversight in place to prevent or detect something like this much sooner than it was!!! I certainly hope on the 14th of February that the “thi woman receives the maximum amount that is punshable by law.

So what can we do….hence the title to my post Sicking but it doesn’t have to end up being that way! I use the last name of the accused in the title so google searches will find their way to this site. We can turn this into a positive. Ok I know you think I have lost my mind but let’s put our team to work!

The prosecutor in this case representing the State of Ohio is Andrew Berghausen. His phone number is public and is 513-946-3081 his office address is: Andrew Bergahusen – Hamilton County Prosecutor’s Office – 230 E 9th St, Cincinnati, Ohio 45202. Write or call Attorney Berghausen and let him know that you want to make sure he understands that the accused Sandra Sicking has harmed someone we all care a great deal about and that we almost lost. Tell him the personal side so it matters. Send pictures – I have but there is strength in numbers. The next activity on this case before Judge Beth Meyer is February 14th at 9am. We cannot let Sandra Sicking get away with what she is accused of nor do we not want the prosecutor to understand there is a face behind the crime!

Second, write the president of Cinfed Credit Union. While they have reimbursed part of the funds that are known to have been embezzled, the full amount of the accused is not known. Nor is the damage to the credit of the Linnabary’s known as we are just discovering that the accused may have opened or attempted to secure credit using the family’s personal information. The address of Cinfed Credit Union is: Cinfed Credit Union – 550 Main St – Cincinnati, Oh 45202. The president is listed as Christine Kunnen. Cinfed’s general email address is c...@cinfed.com and the phone number is 513-333-3800. We need to put a face behind this story to them as well, the face of Jennifer! The have a part in this crime by lack of over sight on an employee.

Lastly, get your media contacts working again. Get this part of the story out there as well as the story of the miraculous recovery to date that Jennifer is experiencing and the wonderful path that she is showing us. This is a story to be told. We can RIGHT THIS WRONG! This sicking act does not have to end up being the end of the story! Get the story out and point everyone to Ziggy-fights and the Help us Help Jennifer Jennifer Linnabary fight cancer and hit that donate button. The link is here for you. http://helpjenniferlinnabary.blogspot.com/p/we-are-team-ziggy.html

I ask that each of you join in with me to get this part of the story out there so we can turn this wrong or sicking act into a huge positive for the Linnabary’s. Let’s not let the crime be the end of the story, but let’s let the good hearts of everyone here and the thousands that have been touched by Jennifer write the next chapter!

The oldest sister
Nora

Friday little improvements began with an increasing white cell count and a feeding tube was put in place to provide her body some protein. Dialysis was keeping her neutral and blood pressure meds were reduced. Saturday we saw another jump in those transplanted cells from our brother Gene and her mental status showed the slightest improvement. Dialysis was increased to begin removing fluids! Sunday more improvement was shown in white counts and in mental status. She was actually able to put two words together!

Monday was a solid break thru! Blood counts off the wall, mental status vastly improved with actually conversation! Bored and wanting her computer and she actually ate solid food!! I left her room and the hospital and am returning to Boston knowing we had faced death square in the face and said not now!

Jennifer remembers little of the past week. The stream of visitors. The sitting at her bedside holding her hand and reading, her husband at a constant vigil and her kids wanting to be close staying over night at the hospital all were acts of love to will her on. Science absolutely plays a major role in where we are today. Science enabled our brothers cells to be implanted once again and fused with Jennfier. The care Jennifer has received and the power of not just the care but the care in its delivery were major factors in getting us to where we are today. However, sheer determination to live and a belief in the greater power that Jennifer holds, along with the love of family, friends and strangers also played a role in bringing her back to us.

We will have peaks and valleys, but we marvel in today and all it has brought us and have renewed hope for tomorrow!

BELIEVE and NEVER STOP BELIEvING. Jennifer is a great example of where believing can delivery you!

The “oldest” sister

Nora

As most of us know Jennifer has remained hospitalized during this holiday season fighting a recent GVHD (graft versus host rejection) which caused pnemonia that she simply had no immune system to fight. Over the weekend Jennifer has shown improvement with not having run a fever for over 72 hours and the severity of her cough less severe.

The next step for Jennifer is a “mini boost” of additional bone marrow from our brother Gene. The hopes are that this will aide in her immune system developing.

As I personally reflect on the past year and the new year, it’s thoughts of my sister that are foremost in my mind. I am most grateful for her spirit, her tenacity in the face of such adversities and her unwielding faith. I am honored to call her my sister. I am blessed that I was able to make the trip to Ohio during the holidays to spend time with her, as short as it was.

We are grateful for the outpouring of support from so many near and far, that have not only emotionally and spiritually lifted Jennifer and her family, but have reached into their pockets to support the family fianancially.  There will never be enough words to say thank-you.

I know the rest of the Linnabary, Cline and extended family and friends are in the same place in being grateful to have Jennifer in our lifes and to enrich us in so many ways. We would only hope that she recovers quickly to also torment us in the ways that only she knows best.

2012 is filled with hope and again my thoughts turn to my sister and her family. Hope that Jennifer is able to bounce back from this setback and move forward in her quest to touch even more lifes. I know that she aches to return to work and the clients that she misses so much as well as the new ones that she hopes to help.  We all pray that the mini boost is the exact medicine needed to get her back on track.

As we usher in this near year I am minded of the limbs of the family tree I am tracing in that they are far reaching and we never know what the next search will find.  Life is like that – if you open your mind and eyes, you see new things every single day.  You learn to appreciate the small things and not to “sweat the small stuff”.   The final stanza from one of my favorit poems from Percy Shelley says it best.  Through out the poem Shelley battles with a strange power that enters into a human and keeps coming and going.    The question of where the strange power has gone in answered in this final stanza:

Full of hopefullness that 2012 will find her each day getting stronger and stronger. Unfortunately today Jennifer has suffered a medical set back and is in the hospital. We know that she is fighting bacterial pnemonia. As she continues running a fever they of course are being agressive and checking everything, yes that means checking to insure that her bone marrow transplant is still functioning as it should. We hope to know some of those test results today and will keep this site updated.

Today I am moved to write on another front. It’s disturbing to me that when a person is struggling so much on the health front that they can be taken advantage of. As we all know Jennifer has been the provider of the family and her vocation has moved her to assist those less advantaged and in need of an advocate. Jennifer becomes their voice. As one of the founders of Project Search she has touched many lifes not just in Cincinnati but around the world. We recently learned that an individual who up until about a year ago, had been intrusted to handle Jennifer’s finances was indicted for misuse of those funds! Jennifer is not the only victim. Due to the impending legal action I can’t disclose names of individuals or organizations other than to assure everyone that the person has been caught and will stand before a court to answer those charges. I am appalled by this person’s actions but grateful for all the others who have stepped up to the plate and continue to help out financially. Jennifer’s benefits are exhausted and income is now limited to the government assistance but primarly from the support of so many friends. We know how tough finances are for everyone, but if you can assist at all please go to the web site link below and hit that donation button. You are helping in support Ziggy’s recovery.

We wish you all the best of the holidays and we will keep everyone posted on Jennifer’s health as we learn more.

BELIEVE

http://helpjenniferlinnabary.blogspot.com/

October is almost over and I realized that I have not posted a Ziggyfights update all month.  For those of you without Facebook I apologize but once again it has been one of those months that I barely remember.  The month started off with me being really out of breathe and having difficulty walking.  I thought it was due to my inactivity and steroids that if I could only move more and get off steroids I would be fine.  I dug out my walker as if gave me stability when I walked.  None of this helped.  On October 3 when I walked into the oncologist office he decided to measure the oxygen level in my blood while I was sitting and while I was walking.  92 and above is an acceptable level but mine was 86.  My oncologist would not allow me to leave and said I had to be admitted.  I kinda figured that would happen and had packed some necessities such as my computer and two days’ worth of clothes.  The doctor felt that this would be a short stay.  His guess was that I either had pneumonia or a pulmonary embolism, both very treatable.

Nothing is ever that simple for Jennifer.  I was in the hospital for 10 days. The bottom line was that I have blood clots throughout my body.  Before they came to that conclusion several things happened:

• They tried to pick a Picc line in my right arm but could not because the Hickman Catheter line was in the way
• My right arm swelled and a blood clot was discovered in my neck
• My Hickman Catheter was removed as they could not get a blood return from it.
• I had to have oxygen on at all times but towards the end this was reduced to just the evenings as I slept. 
• I was stuck a million times as they tried to get a vein that would give them blood for test and would hold up as they performed  a CT with contrast of my lungs. 
• One of the blood test came back confirming that I had a staph infection.  They believed that the origin of this was my port.  My port was removed and it tested positive for staph
• I had a Picc line inserted in my left arm and during that process they discovered that I had blood clots in a main artery leading to my heart.
• I was started on a regimen of blood thinner shots and Coumadin. 

I have been home a couple weeks and have noticed some improvements.  I can walk around the house without a walker and sometimes without a cane.  I am not as out of breathe as I was prior to my stay.  I am told I will be on Coumadin for a long time.  I am also on a low sodium diet which is difficult to adjust to as it is completely opposite of the diet I was on before.  Last week at my oncologist appointment my Hemoglobin level was low so I had to have a blood transfusion.  They ran test to determine why that was occurring but I have not heard anything about those test.  I have another appointment on Monday so hopefully I will know more then.

Work

Many people have been asking when I will be able to return to work.  The answer is complicated for several reasons. I have not talked with my Oncologist about when he thinks I can return to work as that would be a fruitless conversation right now. 

The other complication is the job I had prior to treatment no longer exists.  I knew this could possibly happen before I left for medical leave; that is reality of being a person going through extensive Cancer treatment.  To me, it feels as though my life has been put on hold but the rest of the world keeps turning.   I do not blame Great Oaks or Project SEARCH for this as I understand what happened and why, it is just hard to explain.  I have mixed feelings but I know God has great plans for me.  I am sure that after the first of the year I will be able to start my job search in earnest.  Right now I am using the time to heal and to update my Counseling License. 

Emotional Well-Being

My emotions have been on a wild rollercoaster ride with all of this.  There are days that I can handle whatever is thrown my way.  However, there are days I want to crawl under a rock.  Many days I have asked the questions, “Why me?” and many days I have made the statement, “Why not me!”  My close friends have helped me through this by making me focus on the healing power of God and his continual presence.  Sometimes it gets so dark that I cannot see that on my own.  I have never lost faith; I have just lost sight of the light.