Michael and his wife have known Ian and Emily Chernisky for close to 15 years. Before kids, they hung out frequently. The families stayed good friends over the years. Now, Michael sees Ian mostly through hockey.
Ian’s middle son Gunnar was in Michael’s son’s preschool class a few years back. It was then that he became aware that Gunnar was struggling a bit with a behavioral disorder. Over the past few months, Michael noticed Ian seemed a bit beaten down and he and Emily had seemed to noticeably cut down their social interactions. Michael asked a while back if everything was “ok” and Ian shared that things were really challenging with Gunnar. Additionally, Michael’s wife spoke to Emily and learned she was flying to Colorado regularly to get Gunnar the help he needed.
Michael was driving home from a game with Ian and began to ask some more direct questions about his situation. Panda’s was the disorder Gunnar was diagnosed with. The condition causes unpredictable outbursts of aggression and misbehavior that is disrupting every aspect of the Chernisky family’s life. Treatment for the condition is not readily available which is why the trips to Colorado have been necessary. On Michael’s ride home with Ian he admitted that due to the travel and cost of care, they had fallen into financial dire straits.. The next day Michael told his wife that he was moved to help the Chernisky’s.
They happened to own a boat that they wanted to sell. Michael told his wife he wanted to sell the boat and give Ian the money to help pay for Gunnar’s care.
To hopefully speed up the selling process, Michael offered the boat at a great price to members of his hockey league with a promise that all the proceeds would go to Ian. He included a link to a GiveSendGo fundraising page for Gunnar as well. That post led to Michael being introduced to Mark Perzi who is connected with Dawg Nation. Thanks to that connection and the sale of the Grant’s boat, the fundraising has taken off and the matching funds will truly help change the trajectory for The Chernisky family.
To help the Chernisky family, donate here: https://www.dawgnation.org/help-carolina-families-in-need/
