06/01/2021
Hi friends of the Cafe and Jeff— If you are already aware of what’s going on with Jeff, you can just read the little bullets below and skip the rest. The goal of this post is two-fold:
1) Get each of you to visit the CaringBridge website below, where you should read the latest update from Renee DePrato (and the ones preceding it, if you haven’t seen it yet). Renee is coordinating an effort to quickly make a video for Jeff to bring him some joy and let him know precisely and emphatically how much he means to all of us. Details on how to be a part of that are in Renee’s update.
2) Ask that you please share the CaringBridge website widely among people you may know who would want to share some love with Jeff at this time. You can do that by sending them the link directly and/or by sharing this public Facebook post (just make sure you copy and paste the content, or modify it however you want: as long as it’s clear why you’re sharing the link so people click it).
If you haven’t heard yet, here are some brief details--you can get the rest by clicking on the CaringBridge link, where Rebecca and her friend Rachel have been sharing updates over the last couple of weeks.
Jeff has been diagnosed with Creuzfeldt-Jakob Disease, which is a rare and fatal neurodegenerative disease that attacks the brain. In Jeff’s case, the disease started about a month ago with muscle tremors, dissociation from his arm, and other alarming symptoms. Over the course of the last few weeks, it has progressed at an aggressive rate and Jeff has just been discharged from Strong Memorial Hospital in Rochester, where he received urgent and attentive care. He will be spending the rest of the time he has at home with his wife Rebecca, his son Gabe, and their puppy Pax. Please keep your eyes on the CaringBridge website; that’s where all updates and information will be shared.
We’ll all be coming together over this in the ways we always do: for now, please do click on the link and share this post so that we can start to shower him with the love he so deserves to feel.
I’m writing this as I sit with Jackie Colombo and Jen Heggelke on Jackie’s porch. If you know us, you’ll know our friendship largely bloomed because of the community Jeff undeniably built. For years, people thought the three of us were sisters and each of us have had to tell countless strangers that no, we weren’t Jackie, we were Donna, or no, we weren’t Jen, we were Jackie, and so on. There is no us without Jeff--it’s really that simple. We’re sharing laughs and stories and memories, and there’s a layer here that’s impossible to deny. We’re not intentionally sharing memories of Jeff: we’re sharing memories of ourselves, which are, by definition, memories of Jeff.
Jeff Kahn has been a dear friend and a monumentally important person in my life for the last twenty years. For many of you, I know the number of years is far more. Please share your stories and love with Jeff while you still can at the site below.
https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jeffk2/journal
Thank you!
Donna Geetter
Welcome to our CaringBridge website. We are using it to keep family and friends updated in one place. We appreciate your support and words of hope and encouragement. Thank you for visiting.
