Andy needs more money by Monday to have scheduled surgery.

Amaryllis

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Sat May-07-05 09:50 AM
Original message

Andy needs more money by Monday to have scheduled surgery.

Edited on Sat May-07-05 09:51 AM by Amaryllis

I don't know where else to post this on DU. If someone else does, please do so.

Please Circulate Widely. Hospital fees due by Monday.

Begin forwarded message:

Date: May 6, 2005 9:23:15 PM PDT
To: prodemocracy@topica.com
Subject: URGENT-- Andy Stephenson Update -- MORE HELP NEEDED -- URGENT
Reply-To: prodemocracy@topica.com

As most all of you know, Andy Stephenson has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

He has no health insurance and his friends are raising money so that he can have the operation he needs to save his life.

As of Friday PM, we have raised over $32,000 toward a $50,000 operation, and Andy is scheduled for surgery at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore this Tuesday May 10.

On Friday afternoon, the hospital called and stated that if full payment of $50,000 is not made by Monday, Andy will be removed from the surgical schedule!

PLEASE help us NOW to raise the additional money we need to help Andy.

And please blast this e-mail and this information to everybody you know, every list, and every person who might be willing or able to help.

THANK YOU!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HERE'S HOW TO DONATE TO HELP ANDY

You can do this on your computer via PayPal:

http://www.paypal.com

After logging in, choose �Send Money� and enter Andy�s email address as the recipient: Andy_Stephenson@comcast.net

You may also send donations via Andy's donation site at Amazon.com: http://s1.amazon.com/exec/varzea/ts/my-pay-page/P2TRHRVBGX9KOX/102-6873839-9047353

OR this abbreviation, also to the Amazon site: http://tinyurl.com/bnu79

If you prefer to donate via non-electronic check or money order, please mail to:

Andy Stephenson
P O Box 25624
Seattle, WA 98165-1124

Any amount will help make a difference.

IMPORTANT: When you have donated please e-mail info@dougzilla.com and let our bookeeper Beth know so she can tell the hospital how much we have raised!

--------------------------------------------------------

From William Pitt--

Those familiar with the fight against electronic touch-screen voting machines will know the name Andy Stephenson. Andy has spent the last several years traveling from hoot to holler and back to hoot again, trying to inform people of the dangers these machines pose to the fundamental principles of participatory democracy. He even ran for Secretary of State in Washington using this issue as the basis of his platform.

A few weeks ago, Andy was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, one of the more dangerous varieties of the disease. His doctors told him he needed a Whipple procedure to get at the tumor, and only a few hospitals in America can perform this complicated procedure with the required competence. To compound the problem, Andy shares the plight of millions of others in our disgusting for-profit health care system and does not have health insurance.

A friend with connections was able to get him a slot at Johns Hopkins, one of the premier medical facilities in America that specializes in Whipple procedures. Johns Hopkins, however, required a $25,000 down-payment before they would let Andy onto an operating table. Furthermore, they required the payment immediately, and wanted another $25,000 once the surgery was done. Andy and his friends spiraled into despair as they faced this seemingly insurmountable obstacle.

And then, something remarkable happened. Friends of Andy posted the details of his plight on a few Left-leaning websites. Left-wing talk-show hosts Mike Malloy and Thom Hartmann filled their listeners in on the situation. Donations for Andy started to come in, and then pour in, and then flood in. People without jobs, and themselves without health insurance, raided their piggy banks.

Within 100 hours, Andy Stephenson had the $25,000 down-payment he needed to save his life. It came as nickels, as dimes, as dollar bills, but it came.

The moral? That which unites the Left is far, far greater than that which divides them. Yes, there are seemingly insurmountable obstacles standing in the way. Yes, frustration and despair are rampant. Yet when the righteousness, passion and strength of the Left are combined, they can stand up next to a mountain and chop it down with the edge of their hand.