Yet another quintessential Internet charity

[macguges]

I hope I don't come across as flippant, because this woman's problem genuinely deserves our sympathy. In short, someone wants us to follow a link because she has reason to hope this could help her afford necessary medical treatment and save her life. Outlandish? Certainly, but Erin's sad story sounds entirely plausible to me.

1. Erin has carefully avoided asking strangers for money. I've seen dozens of artists, bloggers and charity drives ask for money with PayPal buttons, but Erin has refused to do this.
   
2. Unlike most industrial countries, the United States' health system is a sketchy patchwork of programs. The resistance to a single payer system means there's no comprehensive explanation for how an American would receive the medical treatment they need. Maybe your employer pays, maybe your personal health insurance pays, maybe Medicaid if the state figures you're poor enough, maybe your friends host a website for you so you can pay with a weird .com's promotion program.
   
3. $10,000 isn't a lot of money, in the grand scheme of things, which makes it difficult to imagine an alternative narrative which makes as much sense as the one presented by Erin's website and blog. If a con-artist wanted to game MegaUpload's program, they'd need to sucker 5 million clicks every four months to avoid working at $15/hour for the same year. I can imagine several more profitable avenues for that kind of talent, including writing for TV reality shows.

So please consider following this link.