Wednesday morning a tragic accident took place. The GCFA s shelter mom, Mary Stilson, was crossing the street to retrieve laundry from the laundromat when she was struck by a car. She sustained multiple injuries including a badly broken femur, badly injured knee on the same leg, a cracked knee cap on the other leg, and head trauma. Luckily there was no concussion from the fall, but she did require stitches to her head. From one of the witnesses we learned that she flew through the air like a rag doll. She is a small woman and obviously no match for a car. The car was not going at a high rate of speed, thank God, because the car was turning left. Mary was in the crosswalk and was crossing with the green light. She was at least 20 feet from the crosswalk when she landed. Norm Stilson, her husband was at the laundromat when the accident took place. One of the shelter volunteers ran across the street to inform him of what had happened. He was still at her side at the hospital into the wee hours of the night. The doctors were still determining the extent of the injuries on Thursday and she finally went into surgery on Friday afternoon. The surgery took nine hours. The bones were actually crushed not just broken and they had to piece the broken bones back in place. Please keep Mary and Norm in your prayers. If anyone lives in the Chicagoland area, please try to find it in your hearts to volunteer at the shelter at this time of need. Right now the special feeding list is about16 ferrets. If you don t like to scoop poop, you can help with the feedings. Even if you can spare just a couple of hours, any time you can volunteer would be so greatly appreciated. The shelter needs your help at this time to keep the shelter operating. We are not asking for a long term commitment, just a little of your time while Mary is in the hospital and of course through her recovery. For those of you that don t know about Mary and Norm, I will enlighten you. Mary and Norm have been the shelter Mom and Dad for a very long number of years. They are at the shelter every morning and night. They are the kindest and most giving people I have ever known. Their devotion is absolute with no compromising the health, happiness, safety and love of the shelter ferrets. The shelter ferrets are their lives and I know Mary is going to be so devastated that she cannot be a part of the shelter operations for a very long time while her body heals. Norine [Posted in FML issue 4299]