A Good Old-Fashioned Barn Raising

Or something like it ...

You may have already seen this, given how our blog circles overlap. In case you haven't, I've lifted the basic info from Andrea's blog, as she and Phantom Scribbler seem to be taking the lead in this situation.

The author of falling down is also a gift has two young daughters. The eldest, who is five, was born with a congenital liver disease and has had two transplants so far. Her health has been poor since November, and she has been in the hospital more than out, having complicated surgeries and procedures to try to track down the source of her internal bleeding. Recently, they believe they found it, only it is a portion of her anatomy that they cannot operate on. The only solution at this point, that they know of, is to have a third transplant; but after several months of hospital stays she is not strong enough to have one. She needs about six months of relatively good health before they could attempt it.

Unfortunately, they ran out of insurance coverage. For the year. As of Monday. This year's one million dollars is gone.

If that insurance company doesn't come to its senses in mighty short order, and there are a few avenues the family has yet to try, a few of us are banding together to host the Internet Fundraiser to End All Internet Fundraisers. Because on top of everything else they're going through, for the love of fucking god, they shouldn't have to worry about how to come up with a million dollars.

Andrea's set up Annika's Internet Insurance Policy, which includes the link to donate funds to the Children's Organ Transplant Association (adds legitimacy and also, if the funds raised exceed Annika's need, they will be used for another child in a similar situation). Additionally, various people are contributing artwork, craft items, etc., to be raffled off (I'm not sure of logistics, check Annika's Internet Insurance Policy page for specifics). Then, peripateticpolarbear has suggested the Virtual Casserole Campaign.

If you have any thoughts, ideas, suggestions, or offers, please check in with either Phantom or Andrea. Or leave them here and I'll pass them along.

And, more so than anything else, keep checking Moreena's blog for updates, send her comments of well-wishes and support, and storm heaven.