A Time For Giving To An LJ Friend in Need
I have an LJ friend who is going through one of the toughest times I can imagine, and in the spirit of the season, I wanted to make a post calling for others to help in some way to ease her suffering.
Her name is patientbear , and she is a chronically ill woman sequestered to a moving chair who is only 50 years old and suffering from a host of ailments, the most recently diagnosed being brain atrophy.
She says,
"I didn't need the MRI to tell me I have a brain problem. I knew it already, I just hadn't had the "official" reason. I have known for 10 years that my memory and thinking process was damaged somehow, but have always attributed it to fibromyalgia's "brain fog." It may well have been brain fog, some of it. But I know that there's a bigger problem brewing. For the past year, my memory (already bad, mind you) has been getting progressively worse, each month losing a bit more and lately it is much worse."
She has lived with chronic pain for a large majority of her life, and I cannot imagine having to deal with the loss of one's memory on top of that. Her husband suffers from his own ailments, and complicating matters further is that that two of them are struggling very hard to make ends meet financially.
It wasn't always like this though, patientbear was once a gifted grief counselor who gave her time kindness to help those dealing with the loss of a loved one. Her disability unfortunately stole her profession away and left her home bound.
This is where I hope some of you may be able to help. I can't imagine having to balance chronic illnesses, plus the loss of ones memory, and have to deal with money problems on top of that. Her and her husband are terrified, and while they have not actively reached out for help, I feel it is my duty as their friend to rally as much help aa possible.
If you have some money to give during this holiday season, please consider donating to this lovely couple. Payments can be made through PayPal to this email address: kathryn (at) booksandstitches dot com