Pizza Stone to host fund-raiser Friday for manager who fell ill

By Stacia Spaulding
©2023 Telegraph Publishing LLC

The Pizza Stone, 291 Pleasant St. in Chester, is hosting a fundraiser for its manager, John Blair, beginning at 5 p.m. Friday, April 7 to help him continue to recover after experiencing heart failure in December. The event is free and open to the public and will include a silent auction.

Blair, 37, experienced the episode on Dec. 4 and spent six weeks in the ICU, before being treated at Tufts Medical Center for two and a half months. He was then transferred to Mount Ascutney Hospital, where he received rehabilitation therapy for 10 days.

He will be doing long-term physical therapy, including water therapy, to regain the use of his right leg and foot, which were damaged while the ECMO — the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine — was inserted to save his life.

Monies raised will be used for Blair to continue his physical therapy at home and water therapy at Edgar May Health and Recreation Center in Springfield, which is not covered by insurance, as well as help with the day-to-day expenses because he is not able to work as of yet. Donations also can be made to Blair’s GoFundMe page here.

He was active at the Flex Fitness gym in Bellows Falls, as well as in local theater productions.

Also on Friday, tickets will be available for a 50-50 raffle that will take place on May 5, Cinco de Mayo. Only 100 tickets will be sold at $50 each for this raffle.