People of Conshohocken – Mark Ehasz

People of Conshohocken – Mark Ehasz

11/11/2017

by Brian Coll

This is part of our People of Conshohocken series…
We have close to 10,000 people in our borough, add in the residents of West Conshohocken, Plymouth, Whitemarsh and Lafayette Hill and we have a large community. Some of the people that will be featured will be well known in the area, some will have just moved into the area, some will have been here their entire lives. Some of them may be business owners, or people who walk around the area, or maybe work in the area. Maybe you know them, maybe you don’t. Everyone has a story. While we are only going to take their picture and maybe ask a question or two, we want to share these stories with you.

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I’m going to start with what made me want to talk to Mark Ehasz and make him our People of Conshohocken today:

https://www.extra-life.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.participant&participantID=279463#

If you have a few bucks go to this link and donate.

Now, let me start from the top, so Mark Ehasz wanders into my shop today to get something framed. We start our small talk and at one point I realize, I have way more than small talk to talk about with Mark, so I broke out a scrap of paper and started some real talk.

Mark and his wife Dawn moved to Conshohocken back in 1999, they were already living in Plymouth and wanted to stay in the community and school district and as they looked at houses a couple in Conshohocken caught their eye. A few years later the unthinkable happened when their daughter Bailey was hit by a car on Fayette Street. It didn’t look good and it was a horrible accident and knowing about it at the time broke my heart. Bailey was a fighter though and she kept getting stronger. While in the hospital the family learned about the Childrens Miracle Network, so years later when the time came and mark could give back, he took to his computer with a community of “gamers” and started raising money with the help of friends and family. Now, I’m asking to help Mark get to his goal, he only needs like $100 to get to his modest goal of $350. I think we can help him out. ExtraLife uses games and gamers to raise money for the Childrens Miracle Network of hospitals most of which are here in America.

We got to talk a little more about Bailey, how it was a long road to recovery and honestly she will always have a physical impact from this event, but mentally she is strong and on her way to great things in life. Gaming has always been a part of their family and one of the things that Mark clearly remembered from time in rehab with her was he brought in one of her favorite games called Animal Crossing, and started playing it by her bedside. He watched as her eyes started to follow along and he could see her physically perk up when one of her favorite characters appeared on screen.

I get to the point of the conversation when I ask what your favorite Conshohocken memory is, something I have been doing lately when doing these People of Conshohocken stories and Mark starts to talk about the old Saint Cosmas and Damian Feasts and the Funfests from over the years and then he turns his attention to one specific Funfest. In 2009 when they could bring Bailey to the Funfest in her wheelchair and everyone was so excited to see her. He was amazed at the number of people in the community that came over to say hi and wish them the best. I clearly remembered that day back in 2009, it was great to see them at the A-Field and I was just so happy for them. I now have two little ones myself and can’t imagine what they all went through. Bailey was a strong little girl, I’m glad to hear she is becoming a strong women and I hope to be able to tune in one day when her and her dad Mark are online streaming playing a game for ExtraLife and all the good they can do with it. Once again, maybe you can help out and donate a few bucks. Keep in mind all the good work they do.

Thanks Neal Eye Group for your support of Conshystuff and our People of Conshohocken series.