Kate and Jon's wedding was very special for many reasons. There is some wonderful love between these two. They have a pretty special story....
On June 4th, 2007, Kate was admitted to and stayed for 5 weeks at Grady Hospital's Trauma Burn Unit after being diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS). SJS is a fancy medical term for "severe adverse reaction" and usually happens in response to prescribed medications like Antibiotics, Sulfa Drugs and Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDs). Kate had been taking a strong NSAID, Piroxicam/Feldene, for over a month when she began reacting to it on June 1st. The reaction presents itself in the form of inflammation in mucus membrane areas (eyes, mouth, etc.) and eventually can spread over the body in the form of massive blisters which erupt and decay. In other words: your body rejects the medication and disposes of it via your tissue & skin, causing the equivalent of 2nd degree chemical burns from the inside out.
Within 4 days of diagnosis, she was in a medically induced coma and full life support with a feeding tube down her nose and a breathing machine in her neck in a sterile ICU burn unit room to protect her from secondary infections after losing more than 80% of her skin. When she finally went home again in July, she had to not only learn to walk again and deal with permanently dry eyes and scarred skin, but also reschedule her entire wedding from it's original date of in August, 2007.
She decided to share her story with us (and with you) because there is a myth that this is a rare disease and because of that misconception and lack of properly informed hospital staff, she was actually misdiagnosed and told to "go home" TWICE from the hospital . When you consider that the great people at Grady's burn unit see at least one SJS case per month, it really goes to show that it can't be that rare and that we need to keep Grady open because it's the only trauma burn unit in our region.
Useful links:
SJS Support
Mayo Clinic
Trad-Mod There were several times i was brought to tears with the love that radiating from these two.
In lieu of wedding gifts, Kate & Jon created a fund in their name for money to help keep Grady's burn unit open so they can continue helping the many people whose lives are devastated by burn injuries. If you are so inclined, please send a check to:
Henry W. Grady Health System Foundation
50 Hurt Plaza (Ironic street address)
Suite 803
Atlanta, GA 30303
Attn: Suzanne Begin Rogers, E.D.
Note: Kate & Jon Walchle Fund
We are very grateful and inspired we got to see what strong beautiful love Kate and Jon have for each other.
it was also very special because it was on one of the few days it snowed in atlanta.
Since Kate changed the wedding from August to January her dressmaker made her a very cool jacket that matched the bottom of her dress.
the flowers were magnificent and designed by
TulipI love this phonebooth photo.
they also had a belly dancer....
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