Community Corner

Moorestown Dad: Keep Our Family in Your Prayers

Victoria Palko's family and friends have rallied around her since she came down with a very rare, very serious case of pneumonia recently.

To the editor:

Recently, our beautiful and healthy 19-year-old daughter Victoria (Moorestown High School, ‘12) became sick while studying for finals at the University of Delaware, where she developed an extremely rare case of pneumonia. It’s been explained to us that the odds of having this are about the same as being struck by lightning.

Over the last two weeks, Victoria has overcome an amazing number of obstacles while remaining in severely critical condition and fought through odds heavily against her. Her doctors—first at Virtua Mount Holly, and now at the Penn Presbyterian Surgical Intensive Care Unit—have been nothing short of amazing. Our friends have put together a Facebook page called "Well Wishes for Victoria Palko" that, in the last week, has received more than 21,000 hits with 3,000+ prayers posted for her. Her 2012 MHS class and University of Delaware friends have been unbelievable, along with a network of close friends that have been with us at the hospital almost 24/7, in addition to those that have lovingly watched our boys.

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We can never repay the strength they have given us to get to this point. We are also grateful for all of the overwhelming support our family has gotten from the No. 1 town in America throughout this period. My wife, Laurie, and our sons, Jonathan and Christopher, have been surrounded by an unbelievable network of support and are appreciative of your prayers and thoughts.

As a private family, we do not often request help but also feel like the collective power of all the prayers has helped Victoria get this far, as well as continue to give us hope. While she remains unconscious and unaware of what’s going on, we know this energy is helping her fight. She has one more battle to overcome, and that is for her lungs to heal and start to work while she is on life-saving equipment.

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I am writing this note to thank everyone in our unbelievable town and ask for your continued prayers during the holidays that her healing continues through this last hurdle. It means a lot to us and is helping us maintain hope during the most difficult time in our lives. Merry Christmas to you all.

Pete Palko
Moorestown

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