Thank Yous

This photo is of Megan and Alanna who were at my house two years ago for my first snow day. The weather has been too warm this year to have produced any snow this year for a snow day...which is the first time in 15 years that I can remember. No delays either.

There are a group of people that I want to thank for the movement that has started to help Megan out. I never asked for anything in my life, and still have difficulty in asking for anything for myself, but when you have a child who is SICK and faces a death sentence, you get shocked into reality and perseverate on the whys, hows, and worry about how she will support herself and her child.

The social services in the county and probably in the country, do not help anyone unless they are destitiute or know how to work the system. Megan gets child support from the officer who fathered her child in Iraq, and it is just too much money to qualify her for food stamps, heat, or housing assistance. So, she had to work to pay her bills other than the rent which was covered by the support. She has been fired from two jobs..one right after she got home from the hospital, the other right after she worked herself to death over the holiday season. She has been out of work for a few weeks now; in that time she has gotten pneumonia, and broken a shoulder from passing out after chemo and falling down some stairs.

Friday night's benefit was started by my friend Loel Barr talking to Judith Singer, who then talked to Mark Wixom, the son of friends of mine who had just seen the movie "The Ground Truth" at Purchase where he is a music major. Mark had wanted to show the film at ASK (Arts Society of Kingston) and Loel and Judith thought it would be a perfect way to educate others about the plight of our returning Veterans and raise money for the IVAW and Megan. One thing led to another, and the film was shown, raising 2,000 It was unbelievable. Also a thank you to Blaise Schweitzer of the Daily Freeman for the article he wrote in Fridays paper about Megan.

Loel Barr and Jonathan Talbot, who are both fabulous artists (I have hot linked their names should you care to check out their sites)worked side by side to develop the website Meganaid.com It has been forwarded all over the world and donations of camraderie, empathy, prayer, clothes, food and money have come in. I am blown away by the generosity and concern of others for Megan's plight. We have raised enough money for her to pay her past medical bills, she will have more medical bills as Medicaid does not pay for all the tests and consultations she has needed, as well as be able to stay home a few months with Alanna.

The tumor is shrinking. Thank God for that. I try and stay optimistic though I have a hard time with knowing that this is the second site that cancerous cells have shown up. I can't help but wonder about depleted uranium and anthrax and lord knows what else our troops have been exposed to (as well as the people who live in the areas where DU is used?)

Thanks for taking the time to read this, and I will keep you posted about what is happening etc.

Blessings and abundance, Patti