Hey friends. I know I haven't known you all long enough to be calling on you for favors, but I could really use your help right now. Well... one of my friends could REALLY use your help right now. I would like to ask you all to pay my friend Round Peg, over at Medicine and Mishaps, a visit because you are in the perfect position to provide her and her family some much needed assistance. You see, Round Peg is the mother of a beautiful little boy who has had to have cranial surgeries since birth, the mother of a wonderful 3 year old who recently survived a fall from her 2 story staircase outside of their apartment, a sister to a now wheelchair bound brother who broke his back in that same accident by cradling his niece to ensure that he would hit the ground before her as the wood from the staircase suddenly gave way, a wife, a full time student and on top of all of that, Round Peg herself is recovering from surgery to repair torn stomach muscles.

I want to provide a little excerpt from her blog as she wrote about the accident involving her daughter and brother:

Monday evening, I got home before Needlenoggin and decided I'd like to take Rorysaurus downstairs and play with her there myself. My wife said she was going to go run some errands, so I was in charge of both kids, and Needlenoggin got home shortly after she'd left. I told Needlenoggin what the plan was and started to head out the back door to the old staircase that winds down the side of the old Victorian house we share with 3 other apartment units, while he was getting changed out of his work uniform and would join me momentarily.

I paused in heading out with the two kids, and decided Little Monkeyneeded something warmer, since it was getting on into evening, though still bright and sunny. Dressing a baby can take a few minutes, so -- God, I'm crying as I write this -- I turned back to dress him properly. I sat down in his room, and was snapping on his outfit when I heard the crash.

Neighbors were shouting, 9-11 got at least eight different phone calls. I looked out the back door and everything seemed normal, until I looked to my feet. The landing outside our door wasn't quite there anymore. It had become a trap door that swung open under Needlenoggin's weight. I looked down from our second story apartment and saw him bleeding and crumpled at basement level, and I had no idea where my daughter was. He'd picked her up and headed out the door, and she wasn't there.

Apparently, he had grabbed her close, tucked, and rolled to ensure that she landed on top of him. By the time I'd looked out the door, she'd gotten up and run to our neighbor's door for help. Scratches and bruises are all she got from it.

Right now Round Peg and her family are trying to push forward to the next steps in everyone's recoveries as her brother is due to be released from the hospital soon into her care, her baby son is currently in the hospital due to another surgery, her daughter is trying to recovery from PTSD, which she now has as a result of the accident. Not to mention that Round Peg is all stitched up and under strict orders to take it easy. In addition to all of this she is STILL responsible for producing work toward her degree. Due to the mountain of debt that their medical bills have created ($340,000), her degree is now in danger. She has entered a scholarship contest by producing a video that tells her story to the powers that be and explains to them why she NEEDS this money. If all of you can visit her page, watch the video and rate it that will put her one step closer to the first place prize that will help her get the degree that she is working ever so hard for. She is only 60 votes away... please help her get there.

I thank you all so very much!!