This family needs help, and I hope the kos community can come to together and make a difference.
She's 14, she sings like Ella Fitzgerald and prays like someone in need of a miracle. Erienne Romaine almost has it all - loving parents, a promising recording career, ambition, brains and wit.
But she also has a big tangle in her brain, a spaghetti-like bundle of malformed veins that threatens her life.
But like 650,000 other Coloradans, Erienne and her parents don't have health insurance.
In July 2005, as Erienne Romaine was rehearsing for her first wedding gig, she collapsed and had a seizure. It was later revealed that she had a hemorrhage in her brain, caused by a ruptured vein in what is called an "arteriovenous malformation" (AVM). Apparently she was born with the malformation, and until it ruptured, no one had any idea that it existed. She made it through the hemorrhage, and is now at home awaiting a series of embolization procedures and brain surgery, all of which is expected to take a few months. One of the most challenging parts of this experience for her is that she is not allowed to sing.
Erienne was without health insurance at the time. Her parents are self-employed in the music business, and were in the process of enacting a plan to be able to purchase health insurance in the near future.
From the Rocky Mountain News:
The family needs money for a half-dozen procedures that, bit by bit, will starve the bundle of veins in Erienne's brain, alleviating the pressure that makes her black out and scream in pain.
Erienne is hoping that her voice, and the CDs that capture it, can help put a dent in her medical bills, which will come to hundreds of thousands of dollars.
With no health insurance, the Romaine's costs will likely exceed $250,000.
What you can do:
- Recommend this diary.
- Purchase her new CD, available for $20 (plus shipping). All proceeds go toward Erienne's medical procedures.
- Alternately, you can make a donation. The Denver Musicians Association has been designated by the Romaine family to be the nonprofit organization through which donations and contributions for Erienne can be made. Write your check contributions to "DMA" and in the memo put "Musicians Relief Fund: ER", and mail to:
Denver Musicians Association
1165 Delaware St.
Denver, CO 80204
4. Please spread the word, send this diary to your friends, or link to it on your blog.
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