On Feb. 13, Rhonda Mojkowski suffered from a hemorrhagic stroke due to blood pressure complications as a result of a stomach virus. This was her second stroke, as her first was in October 2024.
After her Oct. 3 stroke, Mojkowski was able to take advantage of the Massachusetts paid family medical leave, since she works for the Massachusetts Department of Education in the Problem Resolution System Department, after exhausting all of her sick leave and vacation leave.
According to her little sister, Marblehead resident Pamela Stevens, Mojkowski and her husband – who has been a teacher for the last 25 years and is now working at the Arts Academy of New Hampshire in Salem, New Hampshire – began struggling to make ends meet due to the new financial burdens that come along with having two strokes and being unable to work.
“We didn’t know that when an individual goes on leave without pay, at least for her employer, they then become responsible for 100% of the insurance premium, so that’s just a little bit more than $900 right there,” Stevens said. “Then there’s rent, and then the utilities, oil, etc.”
According to Stevens, Mojkowski and her husband “have exhausted their savings, tax refund and all of Roni’s retirement funds to pay for the medical insurance and co-pays, groceries, rent, heat, utilities and all other household expenses.”
Mojkowski was released from both the Intensive Care Unit and Traumatic Brain Injury unit at Portsmouth Regional Hospital just last Saturday. Although Stevens was sure to commend her sister’s work ethic in never giving up during her recovery – moving from wheelchair, to walker, to walking – she knew she had to do something.
“I was losing sleep trying to figure out: How do we help? How do we fill this gap when someone just had this tragedy happen to them in their life and has this medical emergency?” Stevens said. “When she was in the ICU, they were so stressed, and I wanted to find a way to take that stress off of them. If we could have helped them and paid their rent and all their utilities, I would have done it in a heartbeat, but we weren’t able.
Stevens said she was sharing these thoughts candidly with her niece, who then suggested she create an online fundraiser to help alleviate the financial burden Mojkowski has been facing and allow her to solely focus on her health and recovery journey.
When Stevens asked her sister for her blessing to create an online fundraiser, she said, “Roni just burst into tears, and she was like, ‘Oh gosh yes, of course – and thank you.”
Stevens researched many online platforms, and her and her husband Tarik Haydar chose to use AngeLink: the first online social crowdfunding platform powered by women. The fundraiser link can be found here: tinyurl.com/Raising4Rhonda.
“We’re just so incredibly grateful, and AngeLink has just been amazing every step of the way. The fact that it’s called AngeLink is just aligned with what my experience has been with them, and they’ve been really, really supportive along the way as well,” Stevens said.
She said she chose AngeLink because she “was just so impressed with the fundraisers on their site, and the fact that they’re not for profit.” So far, $4,730 has been raised, which is 25% of the overall goal, and it has already gone toward Mojkowski’s utilities and medical insurance bills.
“As soon as we put the fundraiser up, donations started coming in,” Stevens said, choking up. “(It was) incredibly heartwarming.”
She continued, “Roni is a fighter and what we in our family call ‘Stevens Strong,’ a phrase that hearkens to our family of origin and past trials and tribulations we overcame, together. We stand strong with Roni and her family but cannot do this ourselves.
“We humbly ask you to stand strong with us, and for Roni, and would be so very grateful for any amount you can spare. Your generous donations will go toward three months of expenses for Rhonda and her family, allowing them to pay for last month’s bills and the upcoming two months while she continues to recover. From our hearts, we thank you.”
