If you've been around Daily Kos for a while, especially reading late at night (for Eastern Time), you'll have come across diaries by BFSkinner. He's a bit of a night owl, and he is also at home a lot, so he often reaches out to us to keep him company. Today, he urgently needs our help so that he can pay his premiums for COBRA insurance that he has already used, to the tune of $1357. That's a complicated story I'll explain below, but first some background, AND the DONATION LINK:
Please send contributions to houstonbfskinner@netscape.net
Many of BFS' diaries are light-hearted, focusing on music and entertainment. Lots of polls, lots of nostalgia. Some of his diaries grapple with the meaning of faith and morality. But the most sobering of his output deals with his difficult personal circumstances. He has lupus, a serious auto-immune disorder with many physical and mental ramifications.
Despite his medical problems, he was maintaining a relatively stable life until this spring. I'll let you read his own words to explain:
This year I was laid off from a very good job that I had been lucky enough to have during the tight economy. I had been with the same company for ten plus years and really enjoyed my position. Unfortunately in May I was let go I was given a severance package, luckily, though which completely ends at the end of this month. So as I wrote in an earlier diary I have no income coming in, I am applying for disability (having been denied for time 1, waiting for the appeal---basically it means no income and no insurance until I get approved for the disability for if I apply for unemployment or find another job (which I cannot anyway, thus the need for disability) I lose all hopes for disability. Hope and Faith
I take 9 different meds now, for a total of 23 pills a day, which make me tired all day, and pretty much knock me out all day. I am unable to walk long distances or stand for every long without feeling dizzy or faint, and I get denied. Ugh. A brief update and a rant on disability.
(Note this medication regimen was BEFORE his diagnosis of severe stomach inflammation.)
Most challenging of all, however, has been the condition he's been dealing with since 2010.
I’ve been diagnosed with dementia due to lupus, an auto-immune disease that I was diagnosed with in 2006.
I have the second most common cause of dementia, vascular dementia, which accounts for about 17 percent of dementia cases. Vascular dementia is due to impaired oxygen to different parts of the brain. Most of the problems I have are in the parietal lobes at the moment, though I do have difficulties in other areas. My problems focus in on:
The ability to learn new information....
Spatial learning....
Short term memory in general....
Eating and medication taking and other day to day living stuff has been impacted.... "I do not have the initiation" ....
Add in the fact that I know this is not going to get better, only worse, and I know what is going on, as a psychologist....Dementia: Firsthand -- It sucks.
Pretty commendable, I'd say, that he was able to hold onto a job for this long, with the scope and magnitude of his physical challenges. I don't know if I would have had the stamina myself. And, as someone who is on SSDI benefits due to an advanced cancer diagnosis, I know that that portion of the social safety net is enormously important, one of the few we have left.
I said that I would explain why this COBRA backpayment is so important. Here, again, is BFS:
It turns out what I thought was health-care coverage offered by my employee since 10-1 was in fact Cobra. [My] old boss... had kept taking 73.00 out of my account, so I did not know anything was different. Turns out they were supposed to be taking 450 or there about per month, instead. So now, to have everything I had done in Oct/Nov/Dec covered I need to come up with 1357 by sometime next week, just for insurance or I am, pardon the vernacular, screwed.
So the good news is, all the medical procedures I've had in December, the colonoscopy, the ER visit, etc.... all have been covered as long as I can come up with the 1357.
The bad news, which he left unstated, is that he will be facing medical bills likely in the five figures if the COBRA coverage is null and void for that period.
So this is where we come in. You know the drill: Recs, tweets, shares, all help. Small donations help; they all add up to the total he needs. Big donations are welcome, too. By the way, this is urgent. He expects the bill to arrive early next week--to be paid upon receipt. Given the 3-day delay in PayPal disbursements, we need to meet this goal by tomorrow.
PayPal your donation to: houstonbfskinner@netscape.net
Kosmail BFS for his snail mail if you prefer to send a check or money order. Or cash, though that's officially frowned upon, you understand. ;)
NEW INFORMATION:
Urged by Ekaterin, and encouraged by scyellowdogdem, BFSkinner has just set up a gofundme page. That fundraising page is here.
Please note that the total requested on that page MAY change, since there are fees involved at that site, unlike PayPal. To be determined....
Many, many thanks for all you can do to help out our brother Kossack in need.
AND PLEASE SEE BELOW THE ORANGE HANDSHAKE FOR THE LATEST UPDATE!!
7:28 PM PT: As of about 10:20 PM ET, the total raised is just under $1000--$983.97 or thereabouts, taking into account the gofundme fees.
That's more than 2/3rds of the way to the goal!!
You all rock, that's all I can say. W00T! Well, besides THANK YOU! ♥
FINAL UPDATE:
Overnight, you all worked wonders.
The total this morning, considering both PayPal and gofundme donations, less the fees, is a little over $1800!!
So the goal was not only met, it was obliterated. :)
Given BFS's financial constraints, the overage will be put to good use--perhaps, to keep him online for several more months.
Thank you, thank you everyone who recced, tipped, tweeted, shared, and donated. Kossacks are the best.