Sumner High ASB Hosts Annual Fundraiser Tonight to Support Alum Suffering from Transverse Myelitis

Join at their annual talent show tonight at 7 p.m. in the Sumner Performing Arts Center and support local alum Jennifer Nash. Tonight’s performance was rescheduled due to inclement weather but is the second showing of the talent show; the first was Friday, Feb. 25.

Students will perform comedic, musical and theatrical acts throughout the evening; it’s the fifth annual event hosted by the ASB.

Nash is an eight-year Bonney Lake resident, is 28 years old and married with a two year-old son. She was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis last fall, when she first experienced complete paralysis in the lower half of her body.

Transverse Myelitis is a neurological, non-trauma spinal chord injury that affects just one person in every million. Symptoms include a loss of spinal chord function, in a time span that can last several hours to weeks.

After a short stay at Good Samaritan, Nash moved home only to be overwhelmed with medical bills and the need for outpatient physical therapy but no means to pay for it. Before her diagnosis, Nash was working part-time at Lakeland Vision in Lakeland Hills.

“As her mother, it has been excruciating to witness the changes Jennifer has had to accept and the reliance on others to help with the simplest of daily tasks,” wrote Jennifer Fernandez, Nash’s mother. Fernandez created an information PDF to help build awareness for her daughter's condition. “She has shown some signs of improvement, but without the extended resources’ of out patient PT, she may be limiting herself to a less substantial outcome of recovery.”

Nash’s family and friends held a fundraiser dinner for her medical bills in Februrary and all proceeds of tonight’s event will go to her. Admission is $8 with an ASB card and $10 without.