For IEMers (and kickballers, and cheesesteak-eaters)

Hopefully, by now, some of you have had the opportunity to work with or meet Ms. Mary Gaston. Some of you might have the pleasure of calling her a friend.

For those who don't know, Mary joined IEM as part of the original FEMA Katrina Planning Team, and shortly thereafter found her home in the IEM Marketing department.

Having quite a gift for the arts, she left us to head to Philadelphia to work on a photography fellowship, work part-time at the Philadelphia Weekly paper, and then became Marketing Director of First Person Arts, an organization in Philadelphia that funds and produces documentary films.

In early 2007, she was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, and returned to Baton Rouge to seek medical treatment, while resuming her position at IEM. Shortly thereafter began a series of surgeries, in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Philadelphia. She's currently recovering from her latest treatment at the Mayo Clinic, in Rochester, Minnesota. At this point, she's been through five surgeries in one year, and she's got a sixth one coming within the next 3-6 months.

In that time, the costs of her medical treatment have spiraled into the tens of thousands of dollars. So, to help, her friend Logan Monroe has started a collection to help her and her family cover her expenses.

If you worked with Mary, consider her a friend, or just knew her to be a wonderful person, or if you didn't ever meet her, and have just a little bit of good in your heart, please consider sending a gift to the account we've got set up for Mary. A portion of those funds will be dedicated to Colitis and Crohn's research.

Updates on Mary

This thread is for updates on her post-op and recovery.

Mayo Clinic Surgery

For those of you that do not know, Mary is at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota this week. They are operating on an internal infection on Tuesday and are hopeful that this will be here last time under the knife. Her mom is up there with her for this week and her dad and brother were there last week. Please keep her and her family in your thoughts this week as she recovers from this surgery.

Thanks For Visiting

I have set up this blog to help raise money to offset the medical expenses confronting Mary and her family. Please feel free to donate as much as you are comfortable with by clicking on the paypal link on the right. You may donate anonymously if you chose. I would like to note that a portion of the money raised here will go to the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation of America (http://www.ccfa.org/). You may also use this forum to post words of encouragement for Mary during her recovery.

Thanks for your support,


-Logan