There are several reasons why I am here today to write this story.
1. Because of the Gracious Lord and Heavenly Father
2. Because of Prayers There is power in prayers
3. Because of the Steven Johnson Foundation the information on the web site saved my life
4. Because of the love and caring family especially my sister Ellen and my brother Jim

My story begins in September 2005. My name is John Hornberger age 50 at the time. I was clearing land for a new home when I was stricken. I thought I was getting poison ivy so I didn’t go to the doctors or ER. This rash had gone on for several days, while I was working at the land I really felt sick. I went to my sister’s house only several hundred feet away. She took one look at me and said she was taking me to the hospital. The doctor on duty in the ER said that I had Stevens Johnson Syndrome. He said that he had seen it in his home country. He admitted me to the hospital so they could get me stable. My sister went home and done a search on the web for Stevens Johnsons. She found the Stevens Johnson Syndrome Foundation web site and read all the information about the disease. The next day the doctor told my sister that he couldn’t help me so he was transferring me to another local hospital. The doctors at the second hospital didn’t know what the disease was or how to treat it. I was there for 3 or 4 days when they decided to life flight me to a burn center. My sister tried to explain to them about the disease and how to treat it but they didn’t listen. I was prepared for the chopper ride. I remembered being loaded into the chopper and as we started to lift off I thought to myself I was going to die because the chopper shook and vibrated something fierce. I remembered looking out the window and seeing the interstate highway. The next thing I remembered I was standing outside my body looking at myself with the flight nurse yelling at the flight attendant to prepare a shot of some kind and then she injected it into me. They were looking at a monitor that had a flat line running across it, then suddenly it changed into peaks. The flight nurse then yelled to the pilot what was the arrival time and to get the chopper down as soon as possible. I was taken into the burn center, where I was in a comma for the next 6 weeks. There were 2 things that I remembered while in the comma. There was a Voice that told me He was not going to let me die and a German doctor that was always shinning a purple light into my eyes. I spent about 2 months in the burn center then sent to rehab at our local hospital. I was in rehab for2 ½ months before being sent home. I went back into the hospital to get my throat open but the first operation failed. I had to go back into the hospital 3 months later for the second operation. The second operation was the charm, there are things that I remembered while in the comma. There was a Voice that told me He was not going to let me die and a German doctor that was always shinning a purple light into my eyes. I spent about 2 months in the burn center then sent to rehab at our local hospital. I was in rehab for2 ½ months before being sent home. I went back into the hospital to get my throat open but the first operation failed. I had to go back into the hospital 3 months later for the second operation. The second operation was the charm, all toll I spent total of 1 month in the hospital for throat operations.

I contacted Jean in the summer on 2006 to let her know just how much I appreciated her and the foundation. It was because of her and the foundation that I am alive. I told Jean that I wanted to help any way that I could. Jean asked me if I would like to be a group facilitator that started my involvement with the foundation. I decided that just being a facilitator was not enough so I decided to hold a benefit to raise money for the foundation. I am happy to say this will be our 3rd annual benefit for the foundation.

I must also say that my whole family has been involved with me in our support of the foundation. I’m going to brag about my niece Alexandria Reed. Alley always wanted to be a doctor ever since she was a little girl .She was on the distinguish honor roll ever since 6 grade. She wanted to come to the burn center to see against the hospitals request because of what she might see. Alley came to visit me but it was more that she could stand to see. After seeing me she knew she didn’t want to be a doctor anymore. After seeing our involvement with the foundation she wanted to help. Our school system requires that you do a graduation project, there are several projects that you can do. Alley decided to do a community service project by bringing public awareness about Steven Johnson Disease. They would be graded on written content and visual presentation. Alley scored 98% on the written part and on the presentation she received 100%. She received the highest score in her class. I can’t begin to tell you how proud I was of her. She has decided to go to college to become a teacher. She will be attending Bloomsburg University in the fall.