First, the short form: Do you have a bed to sleep in? If not, is that voluntary? For one of my dear Kossack friends, LoreleiHI, it isn't. In fact, she badly needs a real bed to sleep in because not having one will steal several years from her life expectancy. Until recently, she's been sleeping on an air mattress, also known as a camp bed, but her roommate's pootie had his way with that the other day, and you know what a determined cat can do to an air mattress. Now she has to sleep on the couch, which is even worse for her health. This fundraiser is because we shouldn't just help her replace the air mattress with another one, one which is just as likely to fall victim to her roommate's cat and which will still shave years from her life; we need to help her get a real bed, the kind she requires for health as well as comfort reasons.
To help her get a real bed, bed linens, pillows, and the other things that go with a bed, use the following Paypal address:
loreleihi at live dot com
If you don't do Paypal, send me a Kosmail and I'll send you her address.
That's the need in a nutshell. For much more, including pics, come with me below the fold.
LoreleiHI has not had an easy time of the last few years. She's a person with disabilities, including the vascular form of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome - the most serious form of this condition, Reynauds, deafness, short term memory issues, hip dysplasia, and having an aorta that's placed wrong. It's for health reasons that having a proper bed is so necessary. One particular quality of an air mattress is evident to anyone who's slept on one during the winter: the air in the mattress gets frigid, and that alone can cause health issues.
She's been homeless; she spent quite a while homeless, in fact, like too many divorced women, andreceived a Community Quilt while she was in a shelter. She had to move from her beloved Hawaii to the Eastern part of the US, and fortunately, now she has a roof over her head which she shares with a roommate. She likes to volunteer at the local food bank as a give-back and would whether she were a client there (she is) or not. She's still very much in poverty; she receives a similar amount of money as my friends and brother James on SSI do, less than $700 a month. Everyone I know on SSI or with a similar income has had to use other assistance programs and make do any way they can. Many have been homeless for considerable periods of time.
I'd like you to read a diary she wrote recently about being poor in New England. It's terrific and it got far too little readership. This is an important topic. Poverty always is, especially personal experiences of it. By the way, it took a fair amount of arm-twisting on my part for her to let me post a fundraiser for her. She didn't ask for one.
Here's a brief rundown on the situation that she sent me for inclusion here.
Back in May, my service dog Púka became quite sick, needing a trip to the emergency vet and follow-ups with his regular vet. His heart murmur had become a degree worse, and he was put on a month's worth of medication. He's fine now, and at my feet on the couch where I spent the night, but getting him back to health required some sacrifice.
So I stayed sleeping on a camp bed after my move, because the money put aside for buying a bed (and other things) went to vet care. I don't regret it! Púka is my partner, and his health is important. But mine is starting to suffer, as well.
Getting up from ground level with hip dysplasia is never easy to start with. Not having good support with poor circulation can be iffy. And in summer it's okay, but in winter an air mattress is very cold (I learned that last winter).
Still, I'd carry on. But there's a lovely large tuxedo cat in the house. He's magnificent, really, for all the bad names I'm thinking about him. And his nails got a bit longer than usual, he was spray-bottled off the bed, and that night (two nights ago) I woke up on a deflating bed. It's still slowly losing air, as I sleep on the couch. I'd love to put hot pink nail caps on him.
Here's the pootie who caused all the trouble.
Meet Púka, LoreleiHI's service dog. He's cute as well as smart and a great partner.
And meet LoreleiHI. There's a good reason she's not showing her face; I need to ask you to trust me that it is a good reason, and I can't say more than that.
Last but not least, here's the air mattress itself; you can see how it's deflating. Once a pootie has gotten his claws into it, the leaks will just keep growing
So why not just patch the air mattress and go on? Because she has
this. Because she has hip dysplasia and the air mattress makes her sleep at floor level. Because it is shortening her life.
Because a bed is a basic need.
Her wants are small. Here's her Amazon wish list, if you'd like an example. I think she deserves the best bed possible, and I hope you will agree. If we all chip in, we can get her something good, something with a long-term guarantee, something that will last for many years. We can get her what she needs.
To make a donation, go to Paypal and use this address:
loreleihi at live dot com
If you don't do Paypal, send me a Kosmail and I'll send you her address. Or check my profile and send me an email; my address is in there.
Thank you for helping one of our own get a good bed of her own and the things she needs to accompany it. Nobody should have to go without a bed or a roof over their heads, without nutritious food or clothing suitable to the weather. That's why I'm a Democrat!
