4-4-4 Campaign
We are coming up on almost 4 years of being ill. The end to this nightmare keeps being out of reach. However, our children as of right now are doing well in their recovery–a hard earned miracle. Our family is being supported by (as of writing this) 213 donations to our GoFundMe. Those donations have kept our family financially afloat during this devastating time. We have reached ⅓ of our goal. Asking for help has become a necessity in response to a problem that is so large.
Medical expenses for treating all of us for Long COVID are crushing us (the kids and I have severe Long COVID and Kendall has post vax injury but is still functioning) and we desperately need help. Every day feels impossible and we need a break via financial support. After almost 4 years of this crisis we need some relief. My youngest son is getting close to this being what he's known for half his life. It's just too much. The problem is just so big we need help not only from people we know but people we don't know.
We need others and that's it. We need lots of others and we come to you all with so much humility. Not for the first time, life has hit us really hard. It's hit our kids hard. They have been with me as my body was in the process of shutting down over months, twice now. I've held them as they've cried and tried to ask all their questions in case they soon wouldn't be able to ask any. I've held them as Long COVID also took over their bodies and they couldn't breathe, as we talked to nurses to know the signs of heart attacks in children, as they had high fevers month after month. We've done everything we could to hold onto their childhood while they lost everything they knew about it. Through it all we've done everything we could to get them and me well.
We are trying to reach our GoFundMe fundraising goal by the 4 year mark of us getting ill and hoping to start a new chapter for our family. We'd like to go into year 5 with a bit of a fresh start for us with there being less stress and worry.
To help us get there, we are introducing what we are calling our 4-4-4 campaign. In the 4 months leading up to our 4th anniversary (do you call it an anniversary when it's something like this???) of being sick we're asking everyone who sees this to do 4 things:
1. Donate $4 to the GoFundMe campaign (https://gofund.me/c642fa93) to help us recover (financially, physically, and emotionally)
2. Personally text our GoFundMe to 4 people who you think would be able and willing to support our fundraiser. We have found that asking specific people has a far greater impact than a general ask.
3. Check out the auction that we've put together. Friends have been very generous in offering some great experiences and beautiful artwork. More on this below.
4. Run For Mollie. For all you hikers, bikers, swimmers and runner's: Mollie's birthday in February we're asking folks to do what they love in celebration of Mollie and her love of running. Running was an expression of her love for life and she misses running every day. More details on this soon.
For the auction, I mentioned that our friends have put together some amazing things to share with all of you. We have some spectacular dining experiences and beautiful artwork that will be part of this. We have dining experiences at Canlis Restaurant and CORA Pizza and Plates in Seattle. Artwork from Víctor Meléndez, Aleah Chapin, Epiphany Couch and Derek Thompson. And an exciting opportunity with Jake and Jordan from The Baseball Bar-B-Cast podcast. Participants will be running their auctions on Instagram.
We’ve already successfully auctioned off tickets for Feast of the Seven Fishes at CORA in Seattle. Three stunning giclée prints by Epiphany Couch. She handpicked these specifically for the auction because of our family's love of our time outdoors!
We'll be sharing all the specific information on my Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/makeonechange/). So give that a follow to make sure you don't miss out on these great auction items.
Also, if you enjoy my writing another way to support me and my family is by upgrading to a paid subscription. Thank you to all the paid subscribers for supporting Women Writers and me specifically.
Last but not least my husband, Kendall, has created an app for sports lovers: Home Team Report. It’s a sports news aggregator that allows you to get news about your favorite teams in one place. Check it out. I know Kendall would love any feedback or functionality requests for the app.
Thank you all so much for your continued support of our family. It really means so much to each one of us. Happy Holidays to all. We wish you all so much love and light in the new year.
Here are the links:
