How you can help:

• Bring a card of support to Career Services during normal business hours or send one directly to Jeff at his address below.

• Bring a donation to Career Services during normal business hours. (checks can be made payable to Jeff's mom - Loretta Winsor, see bottom of page for mailing address)

Jeff's Contact Information:

Mail can be sent to:

Jeff Trune

Hazel Findlay Country Manor

Room C9

1101 S. Scott Rd.

St. John's, Michigan 48879

Jeff's Story:

InterVarsity and the Career Services Office are teaming up to raise money for Jeff Trune and his family. Jeff was a sophomore electrical engineer here at Rose this year (2007-2008) and had been a work study student for Career Services since his freshman year. He was not able to return to school after Christmas break due to a brain tumor. Jeff underwent surgery on February 26, 2008 to have the tumor removed.

His recovery is progressing but it has not been as easy as expected. He suffered from a stroke on March 1, 2008 and had to have emergency surgery for that. He also has had a feeding tube put in.

Please scroll down or click here to find more updates on Jeff's progress.

If you would like any further information concerning Jeff, please let Chris Bowen of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship know. You can reach him at bowencl@rose-hulman.edu, CM982, or at ext. 6799 or contact Career Services.

Brain Tumor Facts & Issues:

• More than 195,000* brain tumors are diagnosed in the United States or Canada each year. That’s 1 new brain tumor every 3 minutes. *includes primary and metastatic brain tumors.

• There are more than 120 different types of brain tumors. Whether so-called “benign” or malignant, all can cause death or disability.

• Brain Tumors are the leading cause of solid tumor cancer death in children and teens.

• Meningioma brain tumors, the most common type, affect twice as many women as men. Although termed “benign,” they are more deadly than breast cancer, compared over a five-year period.

• More support services are needed for brain tumor patients during and after their diagnosis.

• Adequate rehabilitation for brain tumor survivors is largely unavailable.
   

info from Central Brain Tumor Registry U.S. www.cbtrus.org & North American B.T. Coalition

www.braintrust.org
 

Updates:

• June 4, 2008, donations from the bake sale, raffle and other collections totalling785.00 were sent to Jeff's mom at the end of school. We regularly try to send the weekly school newspaper to Jeff so he can stay in touch, and he loves to get cards and correspondence from people. He is still undergoing physical therapy for the left side of his body, and although he has regained some movement in his left leg, his left arm still remains a challenge.

• May 13, 2008, we raised $565.00 from the bake sale and raffle that we had to benefit Jeff! We will be sending this to his parents in the next week or so! Thanks for all the support of campus and the help of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship!

• May 7, 2008, Jeff's mom emailed to say that they are starting to try Jeff on some soft foods and hope to have him eating fully in 2 weeks. Until now he has had nothing by mouth, only through a feeding tube. They are trying foods very slowly and if all goes well he will have surgery to remove the feeding tube. He got bad news though from a specialist that his optic nerve on his right eye is damaged and he may not be able to recover sight from it. His left optic nerve also has some damage, but he does have some vision there. He is sitting up for all meals now, but still battling depression.

• April 21, 2008, Jeff's mom called to give us an update. She said that Jeff's biological father has had some sudden medical issues, and they were preparing to tell Jeff that news. She said that he is continuing with his therapy, both speech and physical. He has a new chair in his room that is more like a wheelchair and they have been working on trying to stand him up for short periods of time, although that causes him much pain and he is unable to attempt walking yet. Jeff is struggling with depression and would really love to hear from people. His direct mailing address is at the top of the page, or you can bring cards to Career Services. We also have the number for the phone in his room if you would like to call him. Just let us know!

• April 2nd and 3rd, 2008, Dawn Miller and Charity Mouck visited Jeff and his family. They were able to take $3700.00 to his parents along with cards and notes from his Rose-Hulman family. Here is an update from an all-campus email that went out: We were able to spend about an hour at the nursing home with Jeff on Wednesday night and a little over two hours with him Thursday morning during his physical therapy. The left side of his body does not have much movement since the stroke, and his goal right now is strengthening his back muscles so he can begin sitting up in a wheelchair. We were able to talk with him a lot, and even though his speech can be difficult to understand, we were able to catch glimpses of the “old Jeff” here and there. During one moment of us giving him a “pep talk” I mentioned that if he can make it through his hard engineering classes, he can make it through this, to which he quickly replied with the succinct statement, “CON APPS!” He’s no stranger to hard work…

• Tuesday March 25th Jeff was moved from Harper Hospital in Detroit to a nursing home near his family's home near Lansing, Michigan. He has daily therapy to help regain muscle control and speech.

• As of March 21, 2008, Jeff could say a few words but not well, he could move his right arm and leg, but not his left arm or leg, and he could only open his right eye a little while he could open his left eye pretty well.