It’s that time of year again, folks: the stockings are hung, the lights are lit, the accounts are itemized and balanced – and it turns out we’re still broke and sick.
Thank you so much to those who have already donated to COTA this year. Your donations mean the world to us, and helped to keep us afloat in what has turned out to be a surprisingly tumultuous past few months.
My fourth transplantiversary in August went better than my wife and I could have hoped – my best PFTs ever, a thumbs up from the transplant clinic’s director – but then, dear friends, things took a bit of a turn.
A routine CT scan a few weeks later showed the beginnings of a pseudomonas infection, resulting in an urgent, unscheduled visit to Stanford. That visit, in turn, went from a quick jaunt to nearly two weeks of hotels and car rentals. Intravenous antibiotics were started once I returned home, plus more pills and new, ongoing inhaled medications. Plus, now I’ve got to go back in January, too. (Palo Alto is not cheap.)
So much for once a year visits; they were nice.
Of course, even if things were great, even if we didn’t have those above-mentioned added expenses, that doesn’t change the fact that healthcare is very much in flux in this country right now. And health insurance companies respond to uncertainty by raising prices, which is truly a delight for people with chronic health issues like me.
My current insurance plan has, in the last two weeks, decided to change everything about how they do business, resulting in lots of scrambling as prescriptions are moved from one pharmacy to another and others are no longer covered at all. I’ve been lucky so far, but there’s only so far luck will get someone with a chronic illness – emergency back-up funds go a lot farther.
If you’re not in a position to help financially, don’t worry, we understand – believe us, we do. But there are plenty of other ways you can help spread the word!
Find out if your employer has a matching program for non-profits. This usually requires a little paperwork, but it’s worth it. (Check out COTA’s website regarding matching here: www.matchinggifts.com/cota Please make sure that your donations are marked “In Honor of Eirik Gumeny.” Feel free to reach out for any help you may need with this.)
We’re also coming up on the time of year when companies like to make charitable donations so they can feel good about themselves at night. Maybe suggest COTA for Eirik G. as one of those charities?
Finally, share this post with your friends and family (and rich enemies). Post about COTA for Eirik G. on Facebook, Twitter, or wherever. Please, get the word out! You never know when a rich billionaire might stumble across your fundraising post and decide to help!