What if you were told of a family member who is suffering from debilitating health and financial issues, and you had the ability help, would you? Of course you would, because here on the GOS more than any other online community, we do take care of our own.
Many of us came to know TiaRachel from her Daily Show/Colbert Report diaries, a series she faithfully produced for years. She made this community richer, and funnier, and now she needs our help.
Here, let her tell you why:
Backdrop: I've got an assortment of health problems (fibromyalgia, chronic migraine, autism-related anxiety, depression, etc...). I was getting worker's comp (long story), but they started requiring me to look for 'appropriate' work,
Let's rewind and take a look at that paragraph again. Assortment of health problems...fibromyalgia...chronic migraine...autism-related anxiety...depression. Let's ask
our own Aji to translate all of that for us:
Any one of her health conditions would be enough, potentially, to make what the world considers "regular work" impossible. I should know. I've had the fibro diagnosis for years now, although no one's been able to identify why I also have symptoms that, no matter how hard they try to shoehorn them in there, don't fit into that particular trashcan diagnosis. [No, don't argue with me about that term; FMS is an actual diagnosis, yes, but the medical community also loves using it as a trashcan so that they can avoid dealing with more difficult, less easily compartmentalized presentations.] But no matter; they've given me the fibro diagnosis, so they can focus on that (which means mostly telling me how it's all on me to fix it), and they can forget the rest. Just once, I'd like the doctors and nurses to have to live in our shoes for a week.
Chronic migraine? Oh, I have chronic migraines, all right; my current one has been hanging around more than a week now. The longest one I ever had? I don't know, because on the twenty-first day, I quit counting. But I have "chronic migraines," small "c" and small "m." They stem mostly from an old injury (and now, also from a new one). I don't have what Rachel has, which is an actual medical condition called "Chronic Migraine." As I understand it, one of the diagnostic markers is that you must lose at least half the days of each month (averaged out over time, obviously) to migraine pain. It's a nightmare.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
In addition to worrying about her health issues, TiaRachel also has this:
my home electric's been cut off. Long boring story about how it got that far, but I need $1,9-something to get it turned on again. (Well, actually I gave them my checking account to get things started, but it's still off two days later -- and i don't have one thousand nine hundred something in the account)...
...Similar story with my phone/internet, though that's not as close to failure. That's still in the several-hundreds range somewhere Also my car insurance,
See her diary here.
Please use her PayPal address, tiarachelgordon@gmail.com, to show your support. Because of your generosity, we have already put a dent in the amount she needs. As of yesterday, you, my beautiful site members, have donated approximately $3,200! Wow. On behalf of the TiaRachel team, a huge thank you!
But we need more.
For those without a PayPal account, you may send a kosmail to TiaRachel asking for her contact info.
“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burdens of another.”
Charles Dickens
Please Help TiaRachel
If you've never used PayPal to send money to anyone, it is really simple.
- Go to PayPal.com. You do not have to have an account to send money.
- Click Send Money to Family and Friends.
- Enter TiaRachel's email address (which is tiarachelgordon@gmail.com) and amount you are sending. The sender's name is visible to the recipient
- If you'd rather send a check in the mail, you can Kosmail TiaRachel to get her mailing address.
Diary Schedule - All Times Are Eastern
Friday, Nov 14th: So. Um. I need some help. by TiaRachel. This was the plea for help posted by her. We are trying to raise $7,000.00 to allow Tia a stable financial future. Please help her as much as possible.
Saturday, Nov 15th: There, but for the Grace.... An Appeal for Help, with a Match by Dallasdoc.
Sunday, Nov 16th: Aji for TiaRachel: When There Aren't Enough Spoons In the World: Helping a Friend Dig Out by Aji (posted on her behalf by Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse).
Monday, Nov 17th: Between 8:00 pm-9:00 pm by JoanMar.
Tuesday, Nov 18th: TBD by side pocket.
Wednesday, Nov 19th: TBD by ericlewis0.
Thursday, Nov 20th: 5:30 pm by bobswern.
Please tip/rec these diaries and republish to your Daily Kos Groups. Link to your Facebook pages. Tweet to your friends. Many thanks on behalf of the entire fundraising team.
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For the long term, you may also help by remembering TiaRachel if you should hear of any job opportunities.
I need leads to work I can mostly or entirely do from home, probably writing/science related (but not journalism), which pays in more than $5 or even $20 per assignment. And something that doesn't require me to hustle for each micro-job. I can also code a little, & could probably pick up some programming given the breathing space & a carrot at the end. (I could probably also do some sort of social media work, or something activism-related that isn't predominantly interactive. Dealing with people is one of those autism-related problems I've got -- I can do it when prepared, but not routinely. hence no retail/customer service). And of course the kind of thing I was doing with the Daily Show/Colbert diaries, when I was doing them: gathering lots of info and summarizing it into a brief narrative (with more time than I usually gave myself for those posts, I can even polish it up. So proofreading/editing/etc might be a possibility, too).
Thank you! We can do this.