Charitable pimpin'

[heidi]

My friend Lisa (aka laughingirl) has set up a CafePress store where you can purchase items with her photos on them and in doing so, contribute to her Avon Breast Cancer Walk A Thon project - some of you may remember her Bear Auctions from last year (she's doing them again this year and already has Matt Damon's sig in hand!). The photos are amazing, and it's all for a good cause, so check it out!

Comments

[aome.livejournal.com]

Harry's on a mousepad!

Btw, you have an extra space in your hyperlink.

Re; Charitable Pimping Pt 1

[sapphsmum.livejournal.com]

Hello Heidi,
You may not remember me, my daughter Sapphire Isle wrote last December about the desparity and frustration in getting help for me with my medical bills for the rare cancer I have when Cassie was getting help with the lap tops she had stolen.I am NOT trying to stir this back up. I am needing to get a message out and wanted to clear this up since it has had enough time I hope to get past the emotional issues it brought up then.

I have occassionally read your posts but after last years fallout, I didn't feel I should post and cause more problems, because that wasn't why she wrote the post here in the first place. She was frustrated by our governments lack of help (which now with Bush's proposals will only get worse!), and lack of concern when she posted last fall that we needed help. She is concerned she will lose her Mom without the proper medical care. She saw people getting help for things that were not necessities to survive and it hurt her because I had been trying to get help for so long on LJ with no luck. She was feeling terrified and lost. And things have gotten worse since December.

Accept my apologies for things getting so far off track.It was not meant to get posted off your post but was asking you personally about this. She had no idea it would get so far off onto other fan sites.

I have read this post about what your friend is doing is for breast cancer survivors and it's patients. This is a wonderful thing and MANY companies, and people donate to help women with breast cancer.

Breast cancer gets a lot of attention because it hits so many women. But there are so many other kinds of cancer that women get and they are not getting any help. Including those of us with orphan cancers. No research is being done at all on my cancer and we are basically being used as guiena pigs because the doctors have no research to decide how the cancer will run it's course or how to treat it. We are left to be experminted on, and have no one selling bears, pink m&m's or pink ribbons for our cancer. Yet, we too are dying from cancer. We (I) want a chance to survive as well!

So basically I am writing to ask for your help. I am desperate and desperate people have to do desperate things including asking help from people who may not be inclined to help them, especially after last December's mess.

You have so many contacts that it would be a good public service if you could make others aware of the need for funding for other cancers women get besides breast cancer. Would you give a shout out to your friends list and ask them to do the same to make them aware that other women are dying that have cancer but it isn't breast cancer? We need financial help and a chance too. This cancer or other cancers that aren't "popular" with celebrities etc.,could hit you or anyone you love and you too would then be in my shoes looking for any help you can get, because there isn't any help out here except for the help of strangers.

cont't next post

Re: Re; Charitable Pimping Pt 2

[sapphsmum.livejournal.com]

Just to update you. The controversy did help raise some money that helped me to get care over the last four months. On the down side my husband received his pink slip today and he has lost his job to outsourcing. With it he is losing his insurance. Now I'm really in a bad situation!

On top of the cancer I was in the process of having gastric bypass done to save my life (as ordered by the doctors at Mayo Clinic because of the 19 other health problems I have inluding just diagnosed pre-diabetes which would be cured with this surgery) to help me get out of bed and on my feet again. I am to the point I was to meet with the surgeon on March 25 and set the surgery date. But without insurance, no bypass surgery and no insurance for the cancer tests and treatment. Because the COBRA insurance will cost $1250.03 a month and that is almost what my hubby will get in unemployment we can't afford the insurance.

I am asking from one woman to another if you would be kind enough to pass on the Amazon link for people to use to help raise the funds I need to survive, and ask them to also post it on their journals? Any donations of cash would also be helpful to help me survive and get this surgery, and the continued cancer care. The Amazon and other affiliates programs which I get a percentage of are on my fundraising site (www.4christina.org) along with my pay pal account for straight donations.

Without this surgery the doctors are saying I will have a heart attack or stroke not If but When, and that is not even taking into consideration the expensive tests I need for the cancer care.

If you are still upset about last December and all the controversy it caused would you please put it aside and tap into your compassion and help a fellow human being out?

I will also be posting this to Cassie as well to let her know this was not personal last year and to ask for her help as well.

I would be sincerely appreciative! Christina

Re: Re; Charitable Pimping Pt 2

[heidi8.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry you're going through so much, I really am. But I am trying to decrease the number of projects I'm on - I've handed over most of my fandom-work to other volunteers, and can't even volunteer for things at my son's school anymore because I'm about to have Baby #3. So I can't take on another project right now - I just don't have the energy to keep up with what I'm already doing.

But in the aftermath of everything last December, as you may know, a number of fandomers joined a community called fandom_helps - there's almost a hundred people who've friended that LJ, and they're probably a more practical group to post to than those who read my LJ.

Along those lines, I know there's a lot of wonderful causes in the world, and much as I wish otherwise, I just can't give them all the effort and energy they deserve. And I understand your issues about the fact that what you suffer from is under-researched. Fanconi's Anemia, which my husband's cousin died of at 15, was similarly situated. There was virtually nothing pro-active being done until perhaps 15 years ago, but the internet has really helped the families whose children suffer and die from this organize and get together in terms of sharing information, treatments, etc. I seem to remember that you've connected with other sufferers and survivors, and that's a great place to start. But also, as the grand-daughter of a surgeon, I also know that testing experimental treatments on humans is oftentimes the best and only way to make the leap into a cure for any given disease or syndrome.

Also, I wanted to mention my friend M-, she's been turned down multiple times for the gastric bypass surgery that would save her life, is fighting the insurance company with help from an attorney. From watching her experiences, I really hope that you try to work with the insurers to see if there's some way that the COBRA can be handled so you can have the operation.

Anyhow, what I'm trying to say is, the most pro-active thing I think you could do in terms of reaching fandomers who *want* to help people now is to post over on fandom_helps. If you post the Amazon link there, I'll be sure to make my next Amazon purchase via it, too. Best of wishes to you and your family.