Tickets on Sale for Fundraiser To Help Stricken Bloomfield Wife And Mother

It's been more than two years since the Gasak family was hit by an unimaginable tragedy.

On December 11, 2009, a young mother from Bloomfield, Joanna Suchocka, was run over by a car on her way to work. Rushed to University Hospital in Newark with severe traumatic brain injury, Suchocka spent over a month in the I.C.U.  Though she survived, it was clear she would never be the same.

It was a nightmarish time for her husband, Andy Gasak. By day he went to work and visited the hospital; by night he took care of their two children. Amidst almost unbearable sorrow, Gasak struggled to hold it together for the sake of Matthew and Klara, their children. 

Suchocka was eventually transferred from University Hospital to the Kessler Institute for Rehabilitation in West Orange.  Though still in a coma when she arrived, the facility’s physicians and rehabilitation specialists worked with her until she slowly came out of it. During her stay at Kessler, which lasted nearly a year, Suchocka made significant progress. 

“They did really good work at Kessler,” Gasak says. “She was phrasing single words, like ‘hungry,’ ‘thirsty.’  She could pronounce names and was trying to formulate sentences.” 

Then, suddenly, his wife contracted a systemic infection from being catheterized so long. The family watched her hard-won developmental gains evaporate. 

“She became resistant to antibiotics and went backwards after that,” says Gasak quietly.   

Suchocka lost her ability to speak and has not regained it since. This, says Gasak, is worse than anything else he’s endured.   

Due to the astronomical cost of care, Gasak has temporarily sent his wife to her native Poland, where she receives round-the-clock care and speech, physical, and occupational therapy. He hopes to bring her back to New Jersey as soon as she is strong enough.

Together with their children, Matthew and Klara, the Gasaks have long been active members of the St. Cassian and Lacordaire communities.

And the community is coming together—again—to offer the grateful family some much-needed help.

So what can you do? Come to the second annual beefsteak dinner scheduled to raise money for the family.

When: Saturday, June 16, 2012 from 6:30 p.m. to 10:30 p.m.

Where: St. Cassian School, 190 Lorraine Avenue, Upper Montclair, NJ.

Tickets: Only $50 per person. Includes all-you-can-eat filet mignon, dessert, and entertainment! The event is BYOB.

Silent auction, raffles and 50/50.

For more information go to:

http://www.joannafund.org/

http://www.joannafund.org/beefsteak/