Among the things that most human beings value a great deal are two of the most elusive to attain: stability and predictability in one’s life. Many of us struggle forever and muddle through our lives, less so by design and more by default. The best-laid plans never, ever come to fruition. Even if they do, it isn’t without heartache or sorrow. Multiple curve balls thrown at us at the most inopportune of times? We’ve all experienced a few.
John Lennon famously alluded to this in “Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy)” — a song written for his son, Sean. It was released just before Lennon was killed by an assassin’s bullet in December 1980.
Before you cross the street, Take my hand,
Life is just what happens to you,
While you’re busy making other plans
Most of you know smiley7 as a longtime community member. Until a few months ago, his life in North Carolina was going quite well. He had a productive job which allowed him to accumulate some savings and plan for retirement. And then, in a story heard millions of times since the Great Economic Meltdown of 2008, a family emergency and lost income hit him hard
Expect the Unexpected
Everything was going along fine, I live simply and my needs were covered; but in September, my Mom came out of hospital with Dementia and as an only child, I had to reorder my life, drop everything including my summer work and go to her home, three hours away, to care for her 24/7.
As she is of modest means, my savings account was depleted and my credit cards loaded up. Thankfully, we nursed her back to a more stable condition and with the help of extended family, my son and local friends, she's doing extremely well given her circumstances.
Then the next ball fell when my winter work in the ski industry was delayed; losing two months of normal full-time work, including our very lucrative Christmas season which equates to around 35 percent of our normal winter income.
Exacerbating an already difficult situation was what happened next. Not long ago, he was diagnosed with cancer and will be beginning a treatment program later this month in Knoxville, Tennessee
Wishing for a Cure to Cancer
There is no good time for a cancer diagnosis and were it not for Obamacare and the annual physical, I would not have known.
Since the confirming pathology before Christmas, I've exhausted myself in researching the best treatment alternatives. In the end I've taken the advise of my Primary Care Physician--a good one, he is-- two urologists and my oncologist. They all separately concluded and recommended Proton Beam Therapy ruling out surgery and a combination of seed implants and radiation. I am satisfied with my doctors advice that this is the best treatment available for curing the cancer with the least harmful following consequences.
According to the The National Association for Proton Therapy, there are 20 proton centers now in operation and 16 new centers in development in the U.S. The nearest one to me in rural Appalachia is located in Knoxville, TN — around 180 miles away. One of my closet friends and I were very impressed with the facility and the good responses we received from the patients we met during my initial consult and MRI.
The facility opened in 2014 and has plans to build patient housing as many cancers do; consequently, I have to find accommodations in Knoxville for nine weeks. After the surgical marking procedure which is scheduled for March 28 and 29th, I will begin daily radiation treatments for two months the following week (Mon-Fri) for 39 treatments.
Here’s where we, the Daily Kos community, come in. To successfully go through this ordeal, smiley7 needs our good wishes and financial help. As best as we could calculate — without the benefit of certainty — we are aiming for a fundraising goal of $7,000.00. I know it sounds like a large amount, but we’ve raised far larger amounts for others in need.
- $4,000.00 for accommodations, food, utilities and travel. It could very well be more.
- $1,500.00 of pathology that insurance doesn't pay.
- $1,500.00 for car repairs, maintenance, and trips to visit his mother. smiley7’s 1987 Toyota Corolla is barely functional and the hope is that it will survive and serve his needs.
Most of all, it is our hope that his cancer treatments are successful and within the next three months or so, this nightmare is behind him.
Please help.
Good news! We already have an $800.00 matching donation from an anonymous donor. So, your contributions will double and end up being $1,600.00 — almost 23% of our fundraising goal.
Here’s How You Can Help smiley7
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Go to PayPal.com. Click Send Money to ‘Family and Friends’ which allows the recipient to get 100% of the donation. Enter smiley7’s email address gjournalist@gmail.com and amount you are sending. The sender's name is visible to the recipient, but unless you share your DK moniker he has no way of knowing which DK community member made the donation. Remember, every little bit helps and adds up in a hurry.
- If you happen to live in or near Knoxville, Tennessee or know someone who does and is able to temporarily rent a place to smiley7 while he undergoes cancer therapy, please Kosmail him directly.
- If you would like to send a paper check or money order (to protect your real identity) through the US Mail, please Kosmail smiley7 to get his mailing address.
- You can also help by recommending this diary, offering encouraging comments, republishing to your Daily Kos groups, linking to your Facebook pages, and helping to spread the word through Twitter.
Be Back Later
My availability in the comments section is going to be very limited over the next hour or so and beyond that, none at all due to an after-work commitment until about 9:00 pm EST or so.
If you have any questions, please feel free to Kosmail smiley7, or Johnny the Conqueroo. smiley7 will also be responding to comments made in this diary and posting fundraising total updates.
If you’re going to post a diary on smiley’s behalf in coming days, feel free to copy and paste any part of my diary into yours.
Update #1:
On Behalf of the Entire Fundraising Team, a Sincere Thank You
… to everyone who recc’ed this diary, commented in it, contributed towards this cause, made suggestions, and offered words of encouragement to smiley7.
His fight is ours, too, and together, we’ll come through this in better shape. And hopefully, fairly soon.
Thanks again, everyone.
