For Lee

2/2/07 Update

2007-02-02T19:19:00.000-08:00

Wellllllllllllllllll, finally tracked Susan down --- Lee went to her appointment on the 31st, and the wunderkind at the ENT group is being less than forthcoming.

Here's what Susan told me: Lee has an appointment to see him again in 3 weeks. He doesn't think that surgery is an option at this point. (AT THIS POINT.) Looks like it'll be radiation to try and shrink the tumor, see if that gives her any relief from the pressure on her brain and her nerve branches. She's been given some kind of medication(s) to help with the headaches and the dizziness and the leg pain. Hopefully, by the next appointment, they'll be able to tell Susan & Lee where they're going from there.

The brain tumor is, as we've known all along, intertwined with the tumor on her face. One of those lovely little bonuses of neurofibromatosis. Because of the strength of the connection between the two, the ENT guy doesn't think that surgery can extract the brain tumor without causing debillitating damage to the rest of her head and possibly her entire central nervous system.

So.

That's what I know as of now.

Not altogether heartening.

I wish that I could give y'all better news. If only we could have gotten to this point SOONER.

I don't mean "this point" in terms of Lee's prognosis as of now, I mean this point as in THIS DOCTOR, or any doctor who would've at least TAKEN A SHOT AT IT. We had so many great offers of help from U of Alabama at Birmingham and Tulane --- and never got to accept them. We've had so many wonderful people sending us information and leads and help --- and now it seems like it was all for naught. If there is any justice left in the universe, the radiation will be the miracle pill.

If you believe in miracles.

Hot Damn!

2007-01-26T19:42:00.000-08:00

FINALLY!!!!!!

Lee has an appointment with the ENT group in Baton Rouge on January 31st!!!!!!

There's over $10G in the bank, waiting to cover everything that Medicaid doesn't (although it still might not be enough, depending on what, exactly, Medicaid covers), and we FINALLY might have an answer.

Lee's disease is progressing in much the same fashion as it has been all along. The one eye out of which she can still see somewhat is getting dimmer, her legs are going out from under her more and more often, and she's less and less able to work.

I wish to hell that we had gotten to this point a whole lot sooner, 'cause there is such a thing as "too late," y'know?

Great thanks go out to Feliciana Pharmacy and Ricky's Bar/Audubon Liquor for helping collect a nice chunk of that money in the bank, as well as the independently-owned BP station here in town, whose very compassionate owner has collected and donated almost two grand. He never tells me his name, he just keeps telling me to get ahold of Maury Povich... I never did get the end of that story --- somebody had called the show about Lee's story, Susan communicated with the producers, but then, nothing. So I don't know what happened there. I have personally written to Oprah and Montell Williams, but never received any response from either.

So cross yer fingers, light yer candles, rub your lucky whatever --- let's just all hope together that we have FINALLY found the doctor(s) who can fix Lee's brain tumor for good and bring her back to herself.

Thank you all, so much, from the bottom of my heart, for your love, your compassion, and your help. Just being lucky enough to witness a modern "miracle" of sorts like this has been a life-changing experience for me. Not a conversion, mind you, but it has restored a small glimmer of hope for the human condition.

FINALLY! An update!

2007-01-07T19:42:00.000-08:00

Oy.

Okay, here's what I found out from Susan today:

1. Together, with the online efforts and the people here in town (including a really really great guy who is an independent owner of a BP station), y'all have raised about $10G!!!!!! With the reinstatement of Lee's Medicaid, it looks like we'll be able to swing whatever solution that the ENT group will come up with. And I hope to hell that it's SOON.

2. The ENT group in B.R. hasn't contacted Susan since Dec. 23rd, so Lee's still waiting for an actual appointment. I know that there's a lot of information to deal with about her case, it's not exactly lancing a boil here, but the longer they take, the more afraid that I get.

3. Lee, of course, is still doing the Mizz Bravado thang, and won't give me a straight answer about any of this stuff, when I ask about her health, her doctor appointments, etc., but Susan says that her headaches & fatigue are getting worse and worse, and she hasn't been able to work nearly as much since the holidays because her legs are going out from under her more and more often. I actually witnessed her legs failing her not too long ago, and it scared the hell out of me, but of course, Mizz Bravado played it off as just "tripping." Her eyesight doesn't seem to be improving or even stabilizing at this point, so it's just pure willpower that keeps her going and working.

4. With all of the wonderful and truly helpful offers and suggestions that we've received from great people at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Tulane's Neurofibromatosis Clinic, and other medical facilities, I've been trying to push for Susan to get into contact with any and/or all of these places, but she & Lee seem determined to stay close to home. I just hope that all of you know how much I appreciate the kindness, the expertise, and the advice that y'all have sent our way.

5. As soon as Susan hears from the ENT group, I will let you all know what's happening next. I'd have posted about these issues sooner, but y'all know how it is when you work retail at the holidays --- Susan was harder to pin down than a hummingbird. And why post when you have no news? No one who wanted to help Lee got into this for entertainment or filler, so I didn't want to insult y'all with blank words.

6. I'm especially thankful that Lee has gotten her Medicaid back; I know that it won't cover *everything*, but hopefully the money that y'all have helped raise will be able to cover any gaps. I will always be grateful for and amazed by the response to our efforts here --- when so much else in the world seems so hopeless, real live human beings blow you away with the size of their hearts and their giving souls. And hopefully, we will still get Lee to the help that she needs IN TIME. Time is what scares me the most, for her sake, because tumors don't wait for anyone.

Thank you all, so much, for all that y'all have done and continue to do for Lee --- you have made such a difference in her life, in my life, in the world, period.

More news as it happens.

Local amazement

2006-12-15T18:30:00.000-08:00

Y'know, when I started this thing, I figured that I'd get a much bigger response for Lee from my online buds (and their online buds, and so forth, 'cause that's just the kind of people that y'all are) than from the local community here, of which I'm not really a "member," so to speak, being the atheist anarchist hyperlexic weirdo from New Orleans, much less being POOR, but these people really have amazed me.

As is the usual with situations like this, often times much more is promised by "upstanding members of the community" than is ever actually delivered, but the ones from whom you actually ASK... They are the ones who bowl you over. And this thing has grown so much, so fast, that people I'd never even MET have jumped-in to help.

I wish that I could get access to find out who has donated what to help Lee, but since I'm only a depositor on the account, I can't get that information or even send out proper thank-you cards. So, direct deposits to the bank aside, there are three local merchants who have absolutely blown me away with their kindness & generosity (as well as their patrons/customers, obviously) for Lee.

My local pharmacy, Feliciana Healthmart, and the owners, Mrs. Ginger & Mr. Jimmy, have been wonderful about not only passing out fliers with information about Lee, but also in keeping a contribution jar right next to the register, and every week since they put the jar out, it's been filled --- usually between $50 and 70 bucks a week! Mrs. Ginger is one of the kindest, most big-hearted people I've ever known, not to mention the best pharmacist that I've ever had.

Ricky's (Audubon Liquor & Ricky's Lounge) put out a milk jug for donations, and gathered $125.99 in one week! (And I gotta tellya, having bartended in New Orleans, the truth there is the same here --- LOCALS TIP THE BEST. Tourists don't tip worth SHIT.)

And even though I don't know anyone very well at the local BP gas station/convenience store (independently owned, affiliated with British Petroleum, yes, but run by very compassionate people who work their asses off), they put out a collection jar/jug for Lee from the very beginning, and have already deposited $400 into the bank account, and when I went by this evening to thank the manager/owner for participating in the fund raiser, he had ANOTHER jar full of bills to take to the bank!

And, I might add, he reiterated my long-held view of retail bidness... The TOURISTS don't drop a DIME on a good cause or for good service, but the LOCALS always give as much as they can. And as I've always known, and as most of my online friends have always shown, from Katrina on down --- those who actually have the least are the FIRST to give, and to give the most of what they have! The rich want to keep it to themselves, the working-class and the poor have the compassion to give all that they can to help another, it's just that simple.

So if y'all ever find yourselves in our neck of the woods, please drop by these bidnesses and show them some love.

Also, and I can't let this go by without comment --- Lee's fellow employees at Fred's have reached into their own not-so-deep pockets and slipped money into the bank account on the sly, because even though none of them are rich, they love her too much to not do SOMETHING. It's no small wonder, when I became a regular resident up here (my parents moved up here in '87, but I was only a visitor until '03, when I came back from Miami) --- that the people who work at Fred's were the first people to reach out to me with anything resembling friendship.

Also, when it comes to who jumped-in-first, I've heard a lot of talk about how every church in the area has SAID that they were going to do everything possible to help Lee, but since I don't know who deposited what, I can't really hold anybody's feet to the fire about whether they delivered or not. When you're raising money like this, you can't EXPECT anything, you just have to be grateful for what does show up. But Grace Episcopal Church, one of the oldest churches on this continent, did call me and promise to contribute, very early-on in this fundraising campaign, and we know that they actually delivered. I'm not very good, myself, at communicating with religious leaders, obviously, but I at least have the manners to say "thank you" when they help someone about whom I care very much.

Now, those of you who are familiar with my regular blogging and my comments on other blogs know that there is no love lost betwixt myself and the local school board, after I was illegally denied employment as a substitute teacher and blackballed from subbing in TWO parishes because of my atheism.

And when it first became known that Lee's brain tumor was reaching life-threatening levels, a certain member of the school board was the first person to "volunteer" to Susan that he would move heaven and earth to raise money, contact people with money, and try to help find the right surgeons/facilities. When nothing was heard from him or his after a couple of weeks, Susan gave up on him, as he is widely known for being far more about politickin' than actually DELIVERING.

But since I put out these fliers all over town and in the neighboring communities, kids in the elementary, junior-high and high schools started taking those fliers in to their teachers and principals, saying, over and over again, "WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING TO HELP HER!!!"

And thus said school board official was shamed by "his" own students into finally RETURNING SUSAN'S CALLS (a week after she gave up on him), but again, nothing came of it. At least, that was the last that we heard of the school board wanting to help.

Then today, I get a phone call from a lady who identified herself only as being "from the school board," who wanted to "let somebody know" that they had just deposited money into the account. Isn't that just wonderful? When you least expect it... People finally do what they've promised, and they make sure that you know about it.

Oh, sure, I'll catch hell again for editorializing on this blog again, I'm sure, but y'know, sometimes you have to take that risk, 'cause the truth needs to be told. There have been DOZENS, probably over a HUNDRED anonymous donors directly to the bank, and online donors who don't want to take any credit for anything, who just want to HELP --- and they've never asked for so much as recognition for their efforts. After all, if you're doing it for the "credit," for the attention, then it's not really "charity" at all, is it.

Now, on another topic, what's got me worried, as wonderful as it is that the "Save Lee" movement has spread to multiple parishes, is that certain people, like the aformentioned TICK, might be putting out "fundraising" jars/jugs/raffles/other schemes IN LEE'S NAME, but that the money will NEVER reach the Bank Of St. Francisville.

And no, I don't personally have the energy, time, money, or mileage left on my truck to go hit every establishment in the tri-parish area that MIGHT have a collection jar out, but believe you me, kids, we're keeping an eye on said TICK.

Did I mention that, as soon as she found out that we were doing this, that we were trying to SAVE LEE'S LIFE, that the TICK called Lee IMMEDIATELY, making that girl feel GUILTY and really SHITTY ABOUT HERSELF, because OTHER PEOPLE WERE DOING THINGS TO HELP HER, of our OWN FUCKING VOLITION I might add, and DEMANDING A ***CUT*** OF THE PROCEEDS?!??!!??!?

There have GOT to be laws against this shit. And once we can get Lee the surgery that will save her life, you can betcherass that I'll be exploring every possible legal option to have the TICK incarcerated for a long, lonnnnnnngggg time.

So, we have good news, and we have iffy news. Sometime this coming week, I look forward to giving y'all some idea of how much money has been raised overall, as well as an appointment date for Lee with the ENT group in Baton Rouge. They've been going through all of her medical records, her CT scans & MRIs & x-rays, etc., for a couple of weeks now, and I'm hoping that they'll come up with a solution that will not only save her life, but allow her to remain HERSELF, above all else. 'Cause as ornery and snarky as she can get sometimes, Lee is definitely a one-of-a-kind original who cannot be lost.

Update 12-13-06

2006-12-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

Alright, technically, it's the 14th by now, but whatever.

Talked with Susan last night, and here's what we know thus far:

The ENT group in Baton Rouge, apparently, are specialists in tumors of the head/facial cavities, and since the tumor on Lee's face is connected to the tumor in her brain, they might be able to find a better solution than your standard neurosurgeon. Susan expects to hear from them at least by Monday, as they've been going over Lee's films/MRIs/CT scans, etc. for the past week and a half. And since there'll be three or four doctors covering her case, perhaps they'll manage to come up with a treatment which no one else could imagine.

I'm trying not to get freaked-out by the delays, but when you go into something like this with a literal deadline of a matter of months to save someone's life, every moment not spent in motion seems wasted.

Lee is, as usual, acting like there's nothing in the world wrong with her, carrying on working as much as she can, although Susan makes her take days off when it's obvious that she needs the rest. Her vision (legally blind in one eye, completely blind in the other) is still going downhill, so there's no telling how much longer she'll be able to work at all. She hasn't, to anyone's knowledge, had her legs go out from under her lately, and thus far has had no seizures, but with a situation like this, it seems like only a matter of time.

When I see somebody like Lee, a hard-working, self-sufficient human being who's never wanted anything more than to have her own life and to take care of the people she loves, go through so much, after busting her skinny ass to make a living --- and then have to listen to maggots who call SSI/SSDI "welfare" --- it makes me wonder if there aren't separate species of "humans." There are those with souls and consciences and hearts, and then there are those who seem to operate on nothing more than a nematodic nerve string.

Y'ever notice, when certain politicians come into office crowing about "reform," that it's always the disenfranchised, the working poor, the elderly and the disabled who are the first to get screwed?

History doesn't just repeat itself, it seems to be stuck in a 20-year groove. The "societal" drift in this country at the moment reminds me far too much of when Reagan turned all of the poor/disenfranchised mentally-ill patients out on the street and CREATED "the homelessness problem."

Anyway, more news as I have it --- and great thanks to all of the people online and here in town who have reached out to Lee and who have done so much to help me and to keep this blog functional. Ricky's liquor store patrons chipped in, over the past week, over $125 into the "tip jar." The pharmacy I use has never failed to collect between $30 and $70 almost every week since we started this thing. And as I hear from Susan how much has been contributed in total, I'll be more than happy to let y'all know, because y'all have given so much of yourselves, your time, and your hearts to Lee; granted, money is a crappy way to measure gifts from the heart, you can't quite quantify concern or love, but at least with the financial numbers, we'll know how much has been accomplished thus far.

Also, Susan expects to hear from Medicaid shortly as to the disposition of Lee's case with them, and how much they'll be able to help out, once the surgeons/doctors are finalized and we know what's to be done. Personally, I want to know how quickly these tumors are growing, because I'm hoping that Lee has more time than was originally quoted. You never want to believe them when they give you a finite number, do you.

None of the corporations that I've contacted have been able to come through thus far, but hopefully Fred's will let Susan know something soon. I am glad that the flier that I sent to the Medicaid office reached someone with the compassion to do something about it.

More news as it comes to me. Thank you all again and again --- it never fails to amaze me how good and generous and truly caring that people can be, even in times like these.

Oy.

2006-12-07T06:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, so here's what I know thus far:

They went to the specialist in Shreveport, and he has referred them OUT, to an ENT practice in Baton Rouge (ear nose & throat). Seems utterly illogical to me, seeing as how the original description, via Earl K. Long, was as I stated to y'all at the very beginning --- BRAIN tumor, in addition to the outward facial tumor(s), pressing down on 8 of the 15 major nerve branches IN her brain, and involved in every single major blood vessel INSIDE THE BRAIN.

But now, all of a sudden, the specialist wants somebody ELSE to focus on the OUTER tumor, as if the brain tumor isn't as important. Susan is following his directives, at least until they hear something from the ENT group.

The Medicaid should kick in very soon, hopefully.

I'm still pushing the Tulane clinic, because I think that they would be able to offer far more options and better technology/specialization in Lee's disease. They have an entire CLINIC just for neurofibromatosis, which seems far more logical to me than this ENT thing.

It's all a clusterfuck right now. I'm hoping that we'll know enough after the ENT visit to finally commit to a plan of action for Lee, and that Lee will know then what she wants to do, and will actually follow through with it.

Y'all are beyond amazing, y'all are the reason that I still believe in doing these projects. I'm just so glad that I have so many wonderful people in my life who are willing to allow me to try and help people who really need it.

So.

I don't know as of today how much money we're going to need, with the Medicaid kicking-in, or if what's already accrued in the bank is enough or too much. If it isn't needed directly for the actual surger(ies), however many there may be at this point, it will most assuredly still be put to a good purpose in Lee's physical therapy and aftercare, which is generally exhorbitant, especially if it's not covered by the Medicaid. IF there is any money left over, I will refund it to you all in proportion to what was donated, or direct it to whatever charitable institution that y'all deem necessary. The checking account is still in Susan's name, so once we know what the next step will be, we will most certainly have a conversation as to where the rest of the money should go, if it is not needed to cover Lee's medical expenses.

Okay. So that's what I know as of this morning. And yes, it's very consternating, it's aggravating, but so is life. I just wish that I could hog-tie Susan to a chair and get ALL of the details out of her; most of our conversations are granted less time than it takes for her to hustle a carton of xmas decorations across the Fred's floor. Getting a straight answer out of Lee is like nailing Jell-O to a tree. Hopefully, by the time of my next post, I'll have much more definite information for all of you.

With the wonderful options that have been offered, from UAB to Tulane to people who have been willing to drive Lee cross-country to any hospital necessary, I've been so hopeful that Lee would be able to take advantage of the kindnesses and medical help offered. Please, do not think that we have cast these offers aside like so much junk mail. I've printed them all out for Susan and Lee, I just don't think that they've had time to properly consider those options in comparison to what is being offered here at home, or if they have, perhaps it is just a matter of real-life constraints that keeps them from responding.

Ironic, really, that communications would be so troublesome for me, but such is life, or at least MY life, it would appear.

Again, more news as it happens. Thank you all so much.

Pro/Con

2006-12-05T23:22:00.000-08:00

On the AMAZING front, I got a phone call this morning from the lady who is the Deputy Director of the state Medicaid program, telling me that she'd gotten the flier I'd mailed her department, and she'd viewed this blog ("particularly noticed the... um... language...") and that from what she'd read, that Lee definitely qualifies for this new kind of Medicaid that nobody's ever heard of, but that's not what matters --- LEE IS GONNA GET MEDICAID!!!!!!!

Now, that won't cover everything, I'm sure, because most private doctors in this state REFUSE to take Medicaid, but if the specialist who has pledged his work pro-bono comes through, we might be able to cover the majority. Medicaid will probably cover all of the hospitalization costs and in-hospital therapy/recovery/rehab, and then we'll figure something out about the home-care/after-care. As to the anaesthesiologist, nurses, and any other surgeons who may be called-in for the procedure(s), it's still up in the air.

Now, on the STILL DON'T KNOW front, Susan & Lee headed up to Shreveport eaarrrrrlllllyyyy this morning, I got 'em on the phone while they were on the road to tell them about the call from the Medicaid lady, but I haven't heard from them since.

When I got home around 7:30P CST, Susan's cellphone was turned off, so I assumed that they were either out of range of towers or asleep. Hopefully they got a motel room for the night and crashed out, and will be home tomorrow. OR, more testing was needed, and they had to stay over to do that in the morning (this morning, if you go by the time mark on this post), and hopefully I'll hear from them sometime today.

Most of what happens from here on out depends on that specialist in Shreveport, so I'm kinda on pins & needles at the moment, and I can't wait to give y'all the (hopefully) good news, 'cause I know that there are dozens and probably hundreds of people out there in the blogoshere who care about Lee and who want her to have the life that she deserves.

When we know what the specialist has said, and has recommended, based upon the wonderful offers and advice that we've gotten from UAB (University of Alabama At Birmingham), at Tulane's Neurosurgery/Neurofibromatosis Clinic, and about a charity hospital in Mississippi that may be out fall-back option. Susan took all of that information up there with him, so hopefully he can advise them as to which program will be the most appropriate for Lee's current condition and for the most positive prognosis.

SO --- more news when I've got it, I'm going to download the PDF for the Medicaid application, which I will be getting to Susan as soon as they get up/get home/get ahold of me & let me know where this thing stands. Great many thanks to all of you who have pitched in, not only financially, but in way of information, education, conduits to all of these amazing programs, and in way of emotional and spiritual support. To all of the Fairy Blogmothers & Blogfathers, to all of the wonderful humans with whom I've been so fortunate to intersect and who have been such a huge help to me, and to Lee, I thank you, so much. With all my heart.

I am still overwhelmed by this whole amazing open-hearted response to Lee's situation. Just when you think that the world can't get any crappier, while you watch Katie Couric verbally fellate the Bush Regime on network television, when you think that there's no hope left via ANY of the "proper channels" --- there y'all go, amazing me all over again.

Thank y'all. So much.

Pause

2006-12-03T23:04:00.000-08:00

Friday, Susan was called-away from work because her long-time boyfriend (and the guy who appointed Lee an "honorary Puerto Rican") lost his mother when they removed her from life support. I don't know when Susan will return to work, but I do hope that she'll still get to make the trip with Lee to Shreveport on Tuesday to see the specialist who will pretty much map out our plans from here on out. Since Lee's become part of Susan's family, I'm sure that she'll be as involved/upset by this sadness & loss as Susan and her son and Susan's boyfriend. All my best wishes are with them, and hopefully I'll be able to get in touch with Susan tomorrow. With four grand in the bank, we can at least get a foot in the door, and I'm going to pick up the proceeds from the collection jars here in town, so they'll definitely have the gas money to get there.

On a personal front, my son went missing today. Well, my four-legged, very furry son, Boy. I don't want to hog up Lee's blog about my Boy, but I've posted about it at Mark Of The Beast, my home blog.

http://anntichristscoulter.blogspot.com/2006/12/boy-mia.html

More updates as they happen.

Blog angels

2006-11-30T17:46:00.000-08:00

Well, I'm outta the tri-color cartridge, so no fliers tomorrow, but my Fairy Blogmother and Le Petite Fromage have come through, as always, and have ordered the cartridges that will keep the fliers rolling out and all over the greater Baton Rouge area, as soon as FedEx can get 'em here.

We have gotten responses from Tulane Medical Center Neurosurgery Dept./Neurofibromatosis Clinic, and have heard about wonderful hospitals in Shreveport and Mississippi that may be able to do the whole schmear pro-bono, as well as the gubmint trials that a wonderful P.R. woman at the University Of Alabama at Birmingham has been so glorious in providing us with information about, if that's not dangling a participle.

We've got people volunteering advice & expertise on how to get Lee's benefits back, as soon as we can make sure to keep her alive. The help is rolling in, along with the donations, from all over the country, from hundreds of amazing and generous human beings.

I cannot tell y'all how bowled-over I've been by the response, and Lee is really getting with the program now, 'cause Susan's been able to explain to her that we're doing what needs doing to KEEP HER ON THE PLANET. That's the priority here, and if things keep going the way that they've been going thus far, we just may pull it off.

So all that I can ask from y'all is that y'all please, PLEASE keep passing the good word --- y'all have given from the bottom of your hearts and the bottom of your pocketbooks, so we need to recruit even more people to the Army Of Lee. Git the word out there, folks!

Y'all have the e-mail addresses to reach me, so if you want the PDF of the original flier, and you'd like to change-up the copy to fit your area and throw some fliers around your neighborhood, just holler at me, and I'll be more than happy to oblige. I don't have full-on Adobe, so I haven't been able to get a PDF of the outside-of-St.Francisville fliers yet, but I can send you the wording on the ones that I've made for mail-outs & faxes, and y'all who have Adobe can do it up and hit the road with 'em!

OH!!! I almost forgot!!! FRED'S SUPER DISCOUNT STORE, the Tennessee-based company that employs Lee & Susan, has gotten into the act, and we've got our first corporate sponsor! Susan's also been talking to an exec at Entergy (the big power company around here) and I've been working on the DEMCO Foundation (my electric company/co-operative), so we may have a couple more corporate sponsors soon!

Cross yer fingers, cross yer toes, cross yer legs, whatever --- just keep on passin' the good word for us, and thank y'all all again and again for your generosity, your willingness to bust yer asses to help us, and your undying support.

L,
Annti

WHEW!

2006-11-28T22:20:00.000-08:00

I hereby retract every nasty thing that I've said about PayPal. After spending half the day explaining, over and over again to first the "customer service rep," then his arrogant little supervisor, I was, thankfully, directed to an actual EXECUTIVE, this wonderful woman named Michelle (I wouldn't hex her by listing her last name on a blog), who not only cut through the red tape and leapt over the dropped balls, but who got Lee's account straight, erased the withdrawal limit, and got those $3,200 safely into the bank!!!
*whew!*
I spent the majority of my day on the phone with PayPal, but I did get a few more fliers passed-out around town, and will spend all of tomorrow, driving from the state line down to Port Hudson, papering U.S. 61 with fliers about Lee and how local people can donate directly to her bank account (like the snail-mail address listed here).
My neurosurgeon would bitch me out if he ever actually read this blog (which I severely doubt at this point; great surgeon, generally a nice guy, but not big on the pro-bono, y'know?), but it ain't gonna kill me. If I could survive three years as a Charity Hospital "patient," waiting to get my back fixed the FIRST time, I can survive a day on the road.
No, I'm not brave enough to drive into Baton Rouge yet, but I have stuffed envelopes all evening, to various radio & TV stations (yes, even Clear Channel, as useless as that will probably be... Long stories, see my old rants on the other blog), churches, state agencies, Kathleen Blanco, newspapers, etc.
Susan is talking to people at Tulane Medical Center/School about their NF clinic, hopefully she'll soon be calling that wonderful woman at the UAB clinical trials for NF, and she's been reading all of the wonderful help and suggestions that y'all have sent to us, in preparation for their visit to that specialist in Shreveport on the 5th. All this while working 12-to-16-hour days to support her son and Lee. What I wouldn't give to have her energy.
Lee's learning to accept the realities of what's going on here, and she's gotten back to her cocky, brash, hilarious self, still working as much as she can, and trying not to be embarrassed by the well-meaning but gauche people who walk up into Fred's saying, "Oh, you pooor thang, I saw your flier, I sure do hope it gets better, blah blah blah...".

Have I mentioned that I want to be Lee when I grow up?

She has the biggest solid-titanium ovaries of any woman that I ever knew.

And a big ol' thank-you to D. Sidhe for sending Lee a whole new batch of her glorious origami cranes --- Lee and Susan both were just tickled to death by them! Lee still smiles when she talks about them, and Susan's already planning a design concept for suspending them from the ceiling of the room that she's building for Lee at her house. Lee gets to pick out the paint colors and the other decorations, but Susan's damned & determined to get those cranes flying across the ceiling!
To those of you wonderful sprites, wood spirits, and Gaelic gawds who have sent checks directly to the bank: I was able to get the names & addresses of the first batch of donors, so that I could send out proper thank-you cards, but apparently, I wasn't supposed to be able to do that, so if you've sent something in the mail and haven't heard back from me yet and haven't been properly thanked yet, please forgive me, as Susan is the one whose name is on the account, and I'm "only" the depositor, so it's going to take a little finageling to get those names & addresses. I realize that a lot of people are donating that way because they prefer to remain anonymous, and I truly do respect that, it is the true spirit of charity, but the Southerner in me can't let a gift go by without a proper thanks, so if anyone really truly doesn't want to hear back from us after donating, please do include a note to that effect with your check or money order --- I can't help it, it's a compulsion. When you get to be my age and realize how much you've had given to you in life, you feel guilty for never having appreciated it enough at the time, and for never having expressed that appreciation.

So, thank you all, again and again, for your support, your encouragement, and your love, which y'all have happily and generously shared with a girl that you never heard of a month ago --- and thank y'all, as always, for trusting me to get the job done.

And remember --- please, above all else --- KEEP PASSING THE GOOD WORD FOR US!

Special thanks to SteveD of BooMan Tribune & D-Kos, who's never given up on us yet, bless his heart --- and a huge thanks to Jesus' General, World O'Crap, BlondeSense, StealthBadger, and so many other wonderful bloggers who, regretably, slip my mind at this late hour. I promise to thank y'all more properly tomorrow, but I've got to get my tired ol' butt in the bed to get up & rat the roads tomorrow and get those fliers in the mail!

Love y'all dearly, and please, please don't give up, no matter what --- y'all are the ones who have given Lee so much hope, even as she deals with the scariest thing in the long ol' row of a life that she's had to hoe. It never fails to amaze her, or me, how generous total strangers can be, just because their hearts are so big and because they are just that kind of good people. Y'all are the not-so-silent majority in this country --- the ones who do the most are always those who have the least and who work the hardest, but might not have the yuppie accouterments to show for it. Y'all are always the first to jump in there and help out, as y'all proved last year and again this year.

While Dumbya goes to kiss ass in Saudi & Bahrain, y'all are here, getting it done. That's why there's still hope for this country --- and maybe they'll KEEP his ass in Saudi Arabia, to boot!
On the road again... If only I had Willie's Bio-Bus...

Good news of a sort

2006-11-27T18:27:00.000-08:00

Finally heard back from Tulane's neurofibromatosis clinic, will be giving the name & number to Susan in the morning, when I set out on another round of flier-posting.

And Lee's talking to me again... she's finally come to understand that I never meant to embarrass or humiliate or belittle her in the least, despite how it might have bruised her ego to have someone try to save her life in public. I'm no shrink or even an M.D. by any stretch of the imagination, but from what I know of Lee, I think that the not-speaking-to-me phase was part of her depression & fear, as much as it was that she never wanted to be objectified as a circus freak or an object of pity. I can't even begin to imagine the fear and horror that she's dealing with on a daily basis --- imagine just starting out in life, finally getting a decent shake, after a lifetime of fuckovers, and WHAMMO!!! --- one twisted gene decides to fuck you out of everything that you'd worked so hard to earn. The job that she loves, the people who love her, the life that she's fought uphill for, all along --- could be so easily snatched away, out of her reach, and none of us yet know when or even how definitely.

But she's definitely back to her own self again... talking to me, bitching about Susan (the uber-yenta), giggling over the huge box of origami cranes that D. Sidhe sent her (and Susan already has ideas about suspending them from the ceiling when Lee's new bedroom that they're adding onto Susan's house when it's finished!), bitching about the stupid customers, and talking to me like she still knows me, which is the greatest gift thus far.

So, exhausted and broke as I am, prolly overdrawn 'cause I never think about the overhead when I jump into these things (hopefully it'll all balance out, some wonderful people that I don't even know have been dropping in donations to help me cover the spread with printer cartridges, postage, stationery, gas for the truck, etc., just waiting for the PayPal to transfer before the debit-card stuff clears), I am kinda happy today.

Maybe now Lee has a little more hope and a lot less denial. Susan made her sit down and explain to her mother (Lee's mother) just exactly how serious this tumor is, 'cause Lee hadn't told her yet that it really "was anything" --- she kept playing it off as some minor inconvenience, because she didn't want her mother to worry or to think that she was asking for anything.

It's amazing that all of that strong will and impressive spine can fit into such an iddy-biddy person... but then, it still amazes the hell out of me that you can hear her mouth from the back of the Fred's warehouse to the front door of the store, and when she's not even YELLING. Girl's got the lungs of Big Mama Thornton in Twiggy's body.

So maybe the universe is giving us a break on this one. Maybe Lee is getting a strong enough grip on this thing to direct all of her strength and personal power and undefeated gumption towards whupping this tumor's ass. Let us all hope.

Still need help...

2006-11-24T22:26:00.000-08:00

Obviously, we won't know definitely which way Lee is going for treatment and how many hundreds of thousands of dollars it's going to cost until after she sees this specialist on the 5th.

IN THE MEANTIME:

What Annti Needs NOW:

1. A very gifted grant writer to hit-up several large corporations right here in our area (well, their oft-polluting PLANTS & MILLS are, anyway) ---AND ANY AND ALL OTHER CORPORATE MEGOLITHS ANYWHERE ELSEand YESTERDAY.

2. A new all-caps button.

3. Somebody to sit here and clean about 7,000 e-mails that I need to save off of my hard drive.

4. That shiatsu chair at Sharper Image. WITH the ottoman. NO Longer Need shiatsu chair, thanks to a very dear, very generous longstanding e-friend, who sent me that HOmedics chair-pad shiatsu thingy today, on HIS birthday. Talk about knocked onto your ass with astonishment and gratitude and surprise... Why can't the whole fucking world be more like him? Oh, right. 'Cause then we wouldn't have the whole fucking world fucked-up by SELFISH BRAIN-FART REPUBLICUNTS, and we wouldn't have to do FUND-RAISERS to try & keep the good people on this planet.

So--- anybody want to hit-up the cube-farm corporations where y'all work for a few checks? 'Cause we are over $3,000, but we need BIG money, like Powerball money, if we can't get Lee more than the surgeons on pro-bono.

Come out of yer triptophane comas and git to work, bright and early, y'hear? 'Cause if it hadn't been for y'all, all of you silent lurkers and voiciferous helpers out in the internet-tubes world, none of this shit would have ever have happened AT ALL.

To be thankful for what has been given...

2006-11-22T22:10:00.000-08:00

...or to crank-up ye olde woodchipper on "thanksgiving" (Celebrating Genocide With Ego & Gluttony Day) and get rid of the second-biggest problem in Lee's life...

...decisions, decisions...

See, before Lee found Fred's and Susan, and before Susan became her "adoptive" mother, there was this white-trash whore whom we shall refer to henceforth as the WHORE TICK. Bloodsucking thieving piece of shit who calls herself Lee's "gawdmutha".

After Lee's "family" of origin deserted her, this WHORE TICK "took her in" --- and took and took and took. Every SSI/SSDI check, every month's food stamps, probably even exploited/defrauded Medicare & Medicaid, too. And the WHORE TICK, who hasn't held a job for longer than a year in her life, is now running the Dollar General Store in Jackson, LA, and undoubtedly driving it into the fucking ground.

Anyway, when Lee realized that she'd never have ANYTHING for HERSELF, let alone any of the benefits that she DESERVED, she decided to get out and WORK, despite the neurofibromatosis and ensuing disabilities, like losing her sight more rapidly every day. The girl was being robbed-blind and made to sleep on the floor like a fucking DOG, and she was GRATEFUL to have THAT. And still consideres the WHORE TICK to be her "gawdmutha."

So, when the Social Security Administration found out that Lee was working "too much," she lost all benefits, all medical care & medicine, and could no longer hand her checks over to the thieving WHORE TICK who was living the high life off of LEE's income. And THAT is when the WHORE TICK put Lee out on the fucking street.

So, Susan took Lee in, adopted her, gave her a home and a family and a stable life and a secure future, and bent over backwards to take care of her, Helen (Asst. Mgr. @ Fred's) gave her the first bed that she'd ever had of her own, and until this brain tumor bloomed like a weed, Lee was pretty much set. She loved her job, loved her family at Fred's and at Susan's, and was happy.

But the TICK WHORE still never gave up her presumed "ownership" of Lee. Like she'd bought her on the slave stocks, I shit you not. Even as Lee wore her own clothes OUT, down to the last thread, that fucking skank-ass diseased cunt-slime anal cyst of a BITCH-DOG still called her, still demanded money from her, FROM THE CHECK THAT LEE WORKED HER SKINNY LITTLE ASS OFF FOR --- when Lee got her latest paycheck, knowing that she had a secure home, people who loved her, and never HAD to give that WHORE TICK a fucking THING, didn't owe her a FUCKING THING --- she went to the grocery store, cashed her check, and the WHORE TICK SPENT THE ENTIRE CHECK ON GROCERIES FOR HER FAT-ASSED WHITE-TRASH SELF. Filled up her trunk with the money that LEE had EARNED.

Before Susan even knew about it, that WHORE TICK was out of the parish, just as fat and happy as any thieving piece of lowlife SHIT would be, after conning a veritable INNOCENT out of her last fucking dime.

There isn't a jury on the planet that would convict me.

And if I could heft her useless jailbird low-rent hooker ass into the woodchipper, I'd be doing it right now. All I'd need is a 50-lb bag of quicklime and some rosebushes.

So if anybody should hold me up anytime soon, y'all know who did it.

Susan & I set up the healthcare fund for Lee up PURPOSEFULLY so that neither I, nor Lee, nor ANYBODY BUT SUSAN could take a single PENNY out of what y'all have so gloriously and generously and lovingly contributed. 'Cause bless Lee's heart, she still sees the WHORE TICK as her "benefactor," her "gawdmutha," the first person who was "nice" to her when her birth "family" cast her out for being too inconvenient. Lee's like that. She has a hard time seeing the bad in anybody. How anybody can have survived the hell that Lee's been through and still be so innocent, I have no fucking idea.

I use this story as an example of what we really SHOULD be thankful for, and what I hope that Lee will someday understand --- that there are people in this world who really DO love her, who really DO want the best for her (including her own LIFE, for example), and who don't expect a single fucking thing FROM HER. She doesn't know how that works, apparently.

When Lee got wind of what I've been doing online, and then today, which I spent going from one end of the parish to the other, putting out fliers with the bank donation information on them, she was EMBARRASSED. Pissed-off at me for making her what she considers to be "an object of pity," like she's a "beggar," like she doesn't DESERVE to have people help her. Apparently, she's been abused (emotionally, physically and financially) for so fucking long, that to her mind, total strangers reaching out to help her, to show her REAL love, REAL concern, REAL caring --- is a "bad" thing.
And she hardly talks to me anymore, and I miss her like all hell. Hopefully, once we find the right program and the way to get her the treatment that she needs and deserves, maybe then she'll understand why this is happening. Why all of these total strangers want so badly for her to live. Why I have "embarrassed" her by trying so damned hard to keep her on this planet.

Instinctively, I want to keep reaching out to her, to keep pressing the point until she'll talk to me, but I know that it won't work. I have to let her have her space and her time to heal and her time to understand what's going on. I don't know how much of this anger towards me is because of how she's been abused all of her life, and how much of it is from the brain tumor. It's so fucking frustrating, because I'm clueless as to how to deal with it. All I can do is try to take my cues from her, I guess. I just hope that, sooner or later, she really will accept that I'm not doing this to take anything from her, or to hurt or embarrass her or to have anything bad happen to her... I just wish that she would talk to me, so that I could know what she's really feeling.

And now that the word of the fundraiser gotten over to the next parish, the WHORE TICK is calling Lee on a daily basis, DEMANDING "her CUT" of the proceeds. Guilt-tripping and berating that child to waste the money that's supposed to SAVE HER LIFE on a fucking PIECE OF SHIT LOWLIFE LOWER-THAN-A-WORM'S-HEMMORHOID SLIME-TRAIL COCKSUCKING CUNT-WART WHORE TICK. That's why we set the bank account up so that Susan could protect Lee from that WHORE TICK. That's why I can't be robbed of any of y'all's money, because I have absolutely no access to that money, even if the TICK WHORE is of the mistaken impression that I DO, and that she can tell Lee that I'm STEALING THE MONEY FROM HER (Lee).

The whole fucking thing is breaking my heart.

The fates always want to take the few people in this world who have ever really accepted me. They've already taken the very few people in my actual family who really loved me, except for Oldest Niece, and I worry that the curse will get HER one day, too.

I guess all that I can really say anymore is to keep trying, y'all --- please keep passing the good word, and know that we are protecting Lee from all parasitic pieces of shit, and that after the appointment with the specialist on December 5th, we'll have a much sharper idea of what to do next.

Thank you all. I am so grateful to have met and loved so many wonderful people online, and to now meet so many more caring and generous and open-hearted people --- if it weren't for y'all, I'd have lost all hope by now.

Peace and love and relaxation upon you all.

XXOOXXOO

Can't stop now.

2006-11-19T18:57:00.000-08:00

I hope that everyone in the blogosphere knows how much we (Lee, Susan, myself, and all of the other people who love Lee, which is a whole lotta people) appreciate all of the help that
Jesus' General,
World O'Crap ,
BlondeSense ,
Winding Road Jaye ,
Booman Tribune &
the whole DKos community ,
Practically Harmless ,
Bitty's Back Porch
and so many others, especially our amazing donors, have been in helping us to get the word out about Lee's Neurofibromatosis-1 brain tumor, and about the fundraising project that we're doing, to try and catch this nightmare before it is too late.

Why this tumor wasn't found before now, I have no fucking idea, except that she was fucked out of her disability payments, and therefore had no access of Medicare or Medicaid nor REGULAR proper MRIs & CT scans. With a disease like Neurofibromatosis, you can NOT wait around for the symptoms to show up, because then it's too late. And because this strong, determined, bright and titanium-ovaried young woman was too independent and too energetic to stay home and stay down, because she TRIED to work part-time, she may lose her life.

Seems fair, don't it?

That's "compassionate conservatism" --- fuck the poor people, after all, as Dumbya has been quoted, "People are poor because they're LAZY," right?

I know that there are billions of other issues going on in the world right now, and I am so grateful to my fellow Mark Of The Beast bloggers for continuing to cover them while I'm on this mission.

But for me, personally, as I sit here at home and allegedly "recuperate" from my surgery, and watch the Murkin sheeple spend themselves into the hole for the annual "allegedly christian holiday consumerism orgy", I can't help but stay pissed-off.

Pissed-off that all the strides that have been made, just in MY lifetime, have been turned back, "re-assessed", annihilated, all in the name of republicunt greed. Pissed-off that, as much and as often as I have bitched, moaned & complained about the pathetic-and-sadistic-as-hell state of Louisiana public "healthcare" (poor people aren't "people," they're GUINEA PIGS, and this was WAAAAYYYYYYY PRE-KATRINA!!!), that IT'S STILL GETTING WORSE, EVERY FUCKING DAY. Yes, there are brave volunteers and pioneers in NOLA, attempting to provide real healthcare to the few actual NATIVES who are left (as opposed to the white-flight yuppies who want to re-populate the actual city with more republicunts, as ordered by Karl Rove), but up here, north of Baton Rouge, poor people are still fucked.

I'm tired of being so terrified that my friend is going to die.

And I don't just mean a sudden, "painless" death, either.

I'm talking about the kind of death that makes you hate Rush Fatfuck Limbaugh even more, knowing what giant gelatinous pieces of shit like him have done to deny REAL PAIN RELIEF to REAL PEOPLE WITH REAL MEDICAL DISABILITIES AND REAL TERMINAL DISEASES --- if Lee dies, if we didn't catch this shit in time, if we can't get the money together before the applications go through, it's going to be slow and horrible.

It's going to be humiliating, torturous, and pure hell for Lee.

Imagine becoming a 99-year-old person with every imaginable "old person" disease all at once, along with a GIANT FUCKING BRAIN TUMOR. Would YOU give up your personality, your memories, your intelligence, your very control over your own body, if you had the choice?

I don't want Lee to have to choose between becoming a vegetable and trying to find a Kervorkian solution.

And hell yes, I'm doing all of this for purely selfish reasons.

I want this young woman to be a part of my life and on this planet for a very long time.

And this is how I know how to get shit done. We did it last year for Katrina evacuees, we can do it again. But we gotta do it NOW.

Thank all of y'all for everything, for every donation, for every kind and supportive word, for every great new idea, for every opportunity to find some hope for Lee.

But we need more.

Put a collection jar on your desk at work. Make fliers with the bank address for donations to be sent snail-mail, or links to the blogs. It'd be nice if I could suggest that someone in the Cheney klan could knock-off Dickotron The Evil Cyborg and send us the insurance money, but the NSA tends to frown on those jokes. Please don't forget about Lee. Please keep her story alive, so that we can keep HER alive.

Just a minute...

2006-11-16T11:05:00.000-08:00

A PEOPLE SUCK Update: I removed a big portion of this post because just today, as we're going through the whole PayPal clusterfuck process, some scumbags in Omaha tried to send me a very specific "phishing" e-mail, so that they can STEAL the identity and gifted money of a girl FIGHTING FOR HER FUCKING LIFE.

I shit y'all not. So, that's today's (Friday, 11/17/06) update. People suck. The only "grant-writer" that I know, aka The Beastmaster (formerly known as my "mother") has punked-out on the whole fucking project, so I have no idea about how to milk huge corporations for contributions that might actually be big enough to MAKE THIS HAPPEN.

So, here's What Annti Needs:

1. A very gifted grant writer to hit-up several large corporations right here in our area (well, their oft-polluting PLANTS & MILLS are, anyway) and YESTERDAY.

2. Somebody to go to Omaha and break some kneecaps for me (Yes, I'd happily do the tire-tooling myself, but I can't even drive to Baton Rouge yet.)

3. A new all-caps button.

4. Somebody to sit here and clean about 7,000 e-mails that I need to save off of my hard drive, since sitting upright REALLY FUCKIN' HURTS.

5. Somebody who can teach me how to copy stuff out of a "spreadsheet"-type website and slap the info onto a document without all of the damned spreadsheet and every single "cell" therein carrying over and adding 20 extra pages to the documents that I want to print-out for Lee.

6. That shiatsu chair at Sharper Image. WITH the ottoman.

Sure, sure, I know, I'm doing a lot of pointless dreaming/wishing on a couple of these requests, but the rest of 'em, I REALLY DO NEED HELP WITH, and also, as always, PLEASE KEEP PASSING THE GOOD WORD!!!

Y'all rawk like mofos. Also, the checks are coming into the bank fund, and hopefully, I'll be able to send out thank-you notes on them by Monday. Y'all are amazing, no matter how many douchebags out there are trying to shoot this --- and Lee's future --- down.

OH! I almost forgot! We got another blog plug!

A.G. at "Practically Harmless" did us quite the good deed today, so head on over there and thank her enormously.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~back to our regular programming...

...before I fall into a coma: 5 hours' sleep, for the past two days in a row, is catching up. OOODLES of fun at the doctor's. Will bitch more later.

I'm hoping to be able to print out at least a PORTION of your wonderful e-mail & comments messages for Lee tonight, so that she can see how many people out there really do love her and want her to live. I'm going to print every single one of them and have 'em bound at Kinko's, so that she will never forget all of the wonderful human beings in this world who want her to live.

Anyway, enough bitching for now. If I haven't been able to write you a thank-you note yet, please forgive me, I'm kinda near-mental-death right now, and will be more useful after a nap, I promise.

Love y'all.

UPDATE, 9P, 11/15/06

2006-11-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

UPDATE, 9P, 11/15/06: $1,561.18

And y'all just keep amazing the hell out of me. Absolutely mind-boggling.

And the good-word-passing just doesn't stop, either --- we're now appearing on Bitty's Back Porch & DKos --- thanks for the tips to Bitty & Tara (and StevenD of Booman Tribune is my new HERO!!! )

Way more thank-you notes to write, the other blog to update, and then it's frozen eggrolls and to bed, gotta be up at 5A for a spine-doctor appointment. More news as it happens.

The blogosphere just goes to prove that every lie spread by the republicunt fear-mongers is just that --- lame-ass horseshit. 'Cause Y'ALL are the REAL America --- the biggest, most open hearts, the best intentions, and the truest aim to those who truly deserve better.

I cannot even begin to thank y'all enough.

Love,A.S.C.

UPDATE:

2006-11-15T14:14:00.000-08:00

Y'all ain't gonna believe this:

Currently, y'all have raised over a THOUSAND DOLLARS for Leola Kinchen's sake.

I am, without a doubt, beyond amazed, beyond stunned.I am just so... grateful.

And I can't wait to see the expression on Lee's face when she sees the bank account and knows that there really is some hope for her, that the crappy excuse for a state hospital system in Louisiana is not the end-all, be-all authority on what's to be her future.

Even though it'd be impossible these days, with the spyware and the scumbags out there, I'd still like to trumpet every single name of you wonderful people from the highest peak, to let the world know that this country is still made up of the most giving, kind-hearted, purely GOOD people on this planet.

Everything that y'all have done is a slap in the face of people like Jack Abramoff and George Allen, Biggus Dickus and Dumbya, who embody the class warfare that keeps a Leola Kinchen from getting the help that she deserves.

Thank you. Thank you all. You have not only helped to save Lee's life, you have changed my life and renewed my faith in humanity (what little there was). I am humbled by your true hearts, if that's not too sappy to believe.

AND KEEP PASSING A GOOD WORD!!!

Updated UPDATE: Now also appearing at BlondeSense!

Misconceptions & such, via Booman Tribune

2006-11-15T00:03:00.000-08:00

I have read/heard quite a few, though well-meaning, mistaken concepts/information about Lee about the blogosphere, and I thought that I'd reprint what I wrote at Booman:

I was so overjoyed and so grateful and so amazed when Blackdog brought your post to my attention, bright and early Tuesday, Steven. Thank you so much and to all of your readers/commenters for all of your help --- the response has been amazing, and we are forever grateful.

There are a couple of misunderstandings floating around the internets at the moment about our mission here, and I'm hoping that the Booman Community will help me dispel them, as y'all travel the blogosphere.

1. Lee is not, nor has she ever been, a resident of New Orleans. She did not move to St. Francisville as an evacuee of Katrina. She had been screwed-over by the state agencies that determine SSI/SSDI/Medicare/Medicaid eligibility long before that hurricane ever hit. She has appealed, she has bent over backwards, but no matter what, she knew that she could still work her skinny little ass off.

Unfortunately, that is no longer completely true.

2. Neurofibromatosis, as has been described, elsewhere, is NOT "Elephant Man's Disease." John Merrick suffered from a variety of at least 6 different diseases, none of which were NF-1, which is what is afflicting Lee.

3. I've hit up Mary Landrieu, Richard Baker, every representative that has access, and it generates nothing but form letters. They don't give a rat's ass about poor people, as y'all ought to damned well know by now. Until it gets them free press, of course. Though I must say, up against that flaming puppet Ray Nagin, Kathleen Blanco looks like a Rhodes Scholar.

4. This isn't just about the decrepit and despicable state of Louisiana's once-proud "charity" hospital system --- which has been systematically murdered, limb by limb, since Reagan took office --- this is about class warfare, folks. If Lee came from money, or at least "enough" money, I wouldn't be writing to y'all now. Healthcare is about profits for the stockholders. We've found neurosurgeons who are willing to help out pro-bono, but what we need the big money for is the hospital/surgical costs, the after-care, the physical therapy, etc. Every time that another republicunt rants that "socialized medicine" is designed to "steal from the working/middle class and give to the welfare queens," remember Lee. There are a billion more just like her, who have been more than marginalized by the republicunts & segregationist/fear-mongering Dixiecrats since way before LBJ attempted the "War On Poverty."

5. Lee does not have any kids. She is 25, free and single, but no, it wouldn't be "that simple" or "that cheap" to move her across the country. I know that those seem like the most logical courses of action, but the logistics for Lee and Susan (her caretaker/guardian angel) are just not that simple. Susan has to work her ass off to provide for her family and Lee, not to mention saving-up the vacation time to go wherever she DOES wind-up going (possibly Shreveport, hopefully closer). Real people's lives just can't up and take off, I'm sorry to say.
6. Lee is completely blind in her left eye and legally blind in her right eye. She can not and would not ever travel, especially cross-country, alone. If I had not just had major spine surgery, I'd volunteer to drive her anywhere on the planet, if we could pull off the gas money. At this point, I can't even drive to Baton Rouge. When Lee goes under the knife, Susan will be the last person she sees, as it should be. I hope that I can be there too, but there's no telling. It's not like I can hire a chauffeur, y'know?

So, in closing, thank you all so much for your help, your links, and your care & concern. Even though I'd never been here before, I feel like y'all have enveloped Lee, Susan and me into your family just like we'd been here all along.

And special love to Blackdog, for bringing me to y'all, and Stinkeye knows the punishment that awaits her royal highness as soon as I find my riding crop...

Much gratitude, love, and peace to you all.

And please, PLEASE, do not stop spreading the good word for Lee.

This is why...

2006-11-14T14:52:00.000-08:00

I generally prefer to live in my computer.

'Cause the people that I've met online have been the most giving, most understanding, most earnest, and most bend-over-backwards-to-help-a-sistah-out human beings that I've ever known.

Overnight, y'all have helped us raise over $500. Can't get it all out of PayPal until PayPal does the verification thing with the bank, but a huge chunk of it is on its way to the Bank of St. Francisville as I speak.

We are going to make this thing work. Y'all are going to keep this amazing woman on the planet. I just fucking KNOW IT.

When I started this thing, I said, "even if we only raise a little bit, I at least want her to have whatever in the hell that she needs/wants, while we're waiting on Earl K. Long or whatever, I don't care if she blows it on tequila and titty bars (well, MALE strippers, Lee wants that part made very clear), I want her to have whatever it is that she needs, whether it's new drawers or medication or whatever we can afford."

And y'all, y'all have opened this thing up to where we really might be able to swing a real hospital to take care of this girl. We really might be able to get SOMETHING done, even on the parts that they tell Susan are "inoperable."

And that just knocks me flat on my ass. It never fails to amaze me, when the rest of the world (aka CheneyBushCo.) is trying to fuck it up for EVERYBODY with their little oil greed/ethnic-cleansing operations, that there are still people out there who still have the spine, the gumption, and the wherewithal to reach out to a woman they've never even MET, and give everything that they can to help keep her alive.

Blows my mind. (I know, I know, if the weather's right, all that that takes is a stiff wind, ha ha ha) But we're only partly the way there. We gotta keep going. So please, pass the word.

Even if y'all are as broke as Lee & I are, you can pass a good word, remind people, nag like yentas, keep pushing this thing as far as we can.

We've already gotten amazing support from my immediate blog family and from people I never even MET before --- par example:

Blackdog found me this one waaaayyyy before I dragged-ass outta bed today ---

Steven at Booman: "Please Help Lee Kinchen"
(The Booman Community has just bowled me the hell over with their IMMEDIATE responses, and I hadn't even ever been there before, which is probably working to Lee's favor...)

Then came the kinfolk:

Brutha From Anotha Mutha Scott at World O'Crap: "Maybe A Slightly Better Way To Celebrate The Season"
(I swear, one of these days, I'm going to figure out how to plagerize that boy, 'cause he makes me look/feel like the rank amateur that I am. And DO NOT forget The Goddess Who Makes St. Francis Of Assisi look like a flat-out JOKER, S.Z., Patron Saint of Emotionally-Challenged Critters)

Jesus' General: "Our Leader's Health Care Plan"
(The first blog where I ever felt "at home," was at Jesus' General. It was a more-testosterone-y place then than it is now, but they still welcomed me to their uber-patriotic bosoms like we were long-lost non-Deliverance-type kinfolk. The Big Man hisself, Jesus' General, has been an unwavering source of instruction, support, and inimitable kindness as long as I have been lucky enough to call him my friend.)

And my Fairy Blogmother Liz, she of the golden locks, the sexy voice, and the snarktastic blues career, is going to let me throw something up at my old stomping grounds of Blondesense. Soon as I can git to the drugstore for my own issues and go fling catshit, I ought to have something up over there. Never forget the people who've stuck by you through innumberable fuckups, impossible-to-predict catastrophes, and flat-out gubmintal genocide.

If anyone else has plugged/supported this blogathon project, and I haven't found y'all yet or am a complete fucktard for missing your kindnesses, please do alert me as soon as possible, because I want to keep the karmic wheel spinning as fast as we can get that mutha to go, and don't want to forget to thank ANYBODY. (No, nobody in my entire extended family has ever been in the Junior League or any type of Garden Club, but somehow, that thank-you-note obsession gene got skewered into my DNA at a relatively early age, and I ain't apologizin' for it.)

So, to try and staunch the flow of weepy-eyed gratitude, I'm going to shut up now and try and get some more work done on this thing. More news as it happens. And somebody get me George Clooney's home phone number. Yes, for Lee's sake. Mostly.

And yes, I will be printing-out all the references and suggestions that y'all have sent regarding physicians/hospitals/medical trials/etc., and giving Susan that handbook tomorrow. Susan never fails to amaze me, either. Works about 70 hours a week, is remodeling her house to give Lee the first "her own room" that she's ever had, and puts up with me. AFTER she already whupped cancer's ass her OWN self.

I'm sure that this spate of illnesses has nothing to do with us all living for far too long right here on the fountainhead of Cancer Alley, no suh... but it's some of the toughest bitches in the world down here, and we GET SHIT DONE.
Thank y'all again. --- A.S.C.

DO IT TO IT!!!!!!

2006-11-13T17:18:00.000-08:00

PayPal is up & running, and for those of you who would rather send checks/money orders (U.S. funds only, please), here's the info:

PayPal:

Snail-Mail: Fund For Leola Kinchen
(c/o) Susan Hammer
Bank Of St. Francisville
P.O. Drawer 818
St. Francisville, LA 70775 USA

The response thus far has been AMAZING. All I can hope is that the kindness and open-heartedness that brought all of you incredible people into my life after Katrina is still out there in the universe, and that y'all will be able to help us keep this amazing young woman on this planet.

We refuse to let her go.

Period.

Thank y'all. Y'all have changed and enriched my life so much, I can't even properly express it. And I know that we will accomplish this, because y'all have already come to love my friend, and I wish that I could somehow share some of her amazing spirit and strength and power with all of y'all, because she is definitely one of a kind.

Love,
A.S.C.

Still working on it

2006-11-11T22:10:00.000-08:00

Still haven't been able to kidnap Susan and get her ass to the bank to set up Lee's account yet, so no PayPal yet, either. Some people have asked about sending checks directly to the account, and yes, the minute that we get the account set up, I'm going to put the mailing address and account name up on the masthead here, for those of you who don't use PayPal.

And I can't even begin to properly describe how much it has touched my heart, how quickly so many of y'all have responded to Lee's need. It never fails to amaze me, to remind me, really, that not all humans suck, and that there are, out there, everywhere else on the planet, so many good, decent, giving human beings.

And believe me, I'm chomping at the bit to get this stuff done, because I get more scared every day that we're going to be too late.

Thank y'all. Again and again.

11/10/06

2006-11-10T17:50:00.000-08:00

Susan's work schedule did not allow us to get to the bank today to set up a savings account for Lee yet. Hopefully Monday. Please, spread the word. Before everybody goes into debt like they do every year for the holidays, please ask them to set ten or twenty bucks aside to help us try to save Lee's life. Please.

No picture can appropriately display the huge brass ovaries that this skinny little girl (well, she's 25, she's hardly a "girl," but y'all know what I mean) has, nothing that I can write can even begin to capture the huge heart, the wicked sense of humor, the sass, the kindness, the hardest-working-woman-in-West-Feliciana-Parish, spirit or strength of this young woman. I wish that y'all could all meet her in person, just once. You would leave in amazement, because there isn't a person on this planet who could make her feel embarrassed, or weak, or lesser-than, or anything other than the powerful, smart, sharp, hilarious little hussy that she really is. She has more self-esteem and more flat-out BALLS than any woman I've ever known.

She never even had her own BED until Helen, the assistant manager at Fred's, gave her one. She didn't even have hardly any clothes until Susan took her in. She'd already been fucked out of her SSDI/SSI, Medicare & Medicaid, and food stamps, because of her "part-time" job at Fred's, which won't even provide her with a healthcare plan until next year. If she lives that long.

And this is a girl who has never held her hand out to beg for a FUCKING thing from ANYBODY. This is a girl who's been standing on her own two feet for YEARS, and she sure as hell isn't going to become some "victim" now. I look up to her, because as many things that I have to bitch, whine, and complain about, she humbles me, and makes me realize how good I've really got it. Yeah, there are people in the world who have it a helluva lot harder than I do. There are people in the world who have it worse than Lee does, and she damned well knows it. She's grateful for every single day above ground. And she works her little ass off every single day that she's got.

But her legs are starting to fail her. She isn't allowed to use ladders at work anymore, because Susan is terrified that she'll fall again and have a head injury. The time is tight. We don't have forever to save Lee. This is a matter of WEEKS before she is either completely incapacitated or killed by this brain tumor and what it's done to the veins and arteries and nerve branches in her brain.

And if any of y'all, like The Fat Lady Sings has done, know of any resources, any websites, any organizations that could help Lee, that I haven't found yet, please, PLEASE share them with me.

I'm not up and running at 100% yet after my own surgery, but I'm doing my very best to do everything that I can to help save Lee's life. Please help me. Even those of y'all who aren't fans of mine, please help us. I don't know how else to get help for her, except to ask.

Blogging For Lee

2006-11-10T01:36:00.000-08:00

This is Anntichrist S. Coulter posting. This blog will be linked to Mark Of The Beast as soon as I can post that we have established a bank account for my friend Lee, who has Neurofibromatosis-1, a condition commonly known as "Elephant Man's disease," even though recent research has suggested that John Merrick suffered from a variety of other diseases.

The short version is that Lee has been diagnosed with a brain tumor, which is part of her disease, and that this tumor is pressing down on 8 of the 15 major nerve branches in her brain, as well as causing blockages and constriction of most of her major blood vessels in her brain.

There are many good websites out there that can eduate you much better than I can about this disease, and I implore y'all to have a look at some of them.

http://www.nfinc.org/

http://www.ctf.org/

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/neurofibromatosis/neurofibromatosis.htm

http://neurosurgery.mgh.harvard.edu/NFR/

http://www.ygyh.org/nf/whatisit.htm

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/disease/Neurofib.html

Since Lee has been fucked out of SSI/SSDI, Medicare and Medicaid by the illiterate state-level bureaucrats who think that they know what a "disability" is, and her job at Fred's Super Discount Store isn't even enough for that child to pay RENT on, she needs your help.

She needs a LOT of help.

If she waits for the one remaining major hospital in the Louisiana state hospital (charity) system, she won't get a surgical date until March or April. Even though she is still working her skinny little ass off, she has already had her legs collapse out from under her, and has had the physical requirements of her job curtailed by her manager, Susan.

Susan is the woman who has fed, clothed, and housed Lee for the past two years, and she is the one who has been reaching out to neurosurgeons and other medical muckety-mucks and has found doctors who are willing to donate their time and work. The problem is that whatever hospital is used to do the surgery WON'T be donating SHIT. This surgery (series of surgeries) is going to run upwards of $200,000. And even as a manager at Fred's, Susan is never going to be able to pay all of that on her own.

The limp-dick hypocrite who runs the parish school system here had "volunteered" to contact all of the major big-bidness muckety-mucks around here (Entergy River-Bend Nuclear Plant, Georgia Pacific & other paper mills, lawyers, etc.) has since bailed on the "project" and no longer returns Susan's calls. So, could turn out that I'm going to have to be the one to start shaking some pretty big trees around this motherfucker.

IN THE MEANTIME, the reason that I'm hitting-up all of my best volunteers, emergency-aid buds, and the wonderful array of human beings who donated over $5,000 to help Katrina victims (through BlondeSense) is so that Lee, who has never had a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of, will have some money of her own. Clothes, shampoo, a fashion magazine, some cute shoes --- hell, I don't care if she spends it on titty bars/male strippers and tequila, I just want this girl to have the best time of her 25 years, while she awaits her future. Whether we can pull off the real-surgeons-real-time thing before she dies of a stroke from the tumor, or whether she has to wait for Earl K. Long Memorial Hospital's waiting list (thanks to Katrina and the needless closing of Charity Hospital) and hopefully doesn't die before her appointment --- I want Lee to have every and any thing that she needs or wants.

And if any of y'all have any contacts with corporate types who could lay out a good-sized contribution, please holler at me. I'm not that great with the suits, but I'll do the best that I can do, if it will help Lee to be healthy again, to be able to STAY the wonderful girl who was the first friend that I made in this redneck-white-flight-republicunt-hell-hole that this town has become. She accepted me, the first time that we met, and made me laugh when I was really wanting to die. She is my friend, and I don't want to lose her.

When I've slept, I hope to provide better information and more of it. But in the meantime, please help Lee. Please. I've lost too many good people in the past 6 years. She has so much to give to the world, to everybody she loves, so much life to live.