Hi, everyone-
Been avoiding saying anything publicly because I didn't want to cause worry prematurely and wanted to make sure I had more information and talked to our immediate family first.
Renae is recovering right now, just very slowly.
Our medical bills are around $75,000 (no insurance).
She has an infection that has spread into her blood and kidneys, as well as pneumonia and some other things we're worried about, but I don't want to say anything there until test results are back. As of today she's doing a bit better and we're told after perhaps a week in the Critical Care Unit she should be mostly recovered. It got really bad and we almost lost her. :( Been a very rough couple of weeks. We're behind in work, income, communication, and our nerves are just shot from all this. (I can't even think about the likely $30k or more in medical bills we're racking up here with no health insurance and we don't qualify for assistance...)
So, please understand that we're unable to get back to everyone checking in on current or future projects, Womanthology copies, or anything else right now. Please give us 2-3 weeks. I'll do my best during that time, but can't promise to get back to everyone. Renae will likely be in CCU for a week or more, not sure how long she'll be in a recovery room after that. My focus is taking care of her and the kids during this (which I can't do at the same time because Critical Care doesn't allow kids).
I just can't keep up on all these messages right now, but I'll do my best. If you could help by spreading the word so no one out there is getting frustrated by not hearing back from us sooner that would be amazing. Particularly on Womanthology. If you happen to see someone asking about it, please direct them here and to the updates on the
Womanthology Kickstarter Updates page, which should answer all questions. Books and other rewards are in process as quickly as we can get them out. Most of them are done! But we're sorry for any delay this might cause, if any. It's mostly out of our hands at this point and just about everything is already on its way to the backers.
So aside from a few pre-scheduled tweets and blogs to keep things running I'll be away from the computer most of the time for right now.
Huge thank you to
Stacie Ponder (check out her movies and comics!) for helping with the kids while I visit Renae and to Renae's sister
Kimberly De Liz (check out her art!) for offering to fly all the way over here to Maine to help with the kids.
And to everyone who already knows and has offered their support and love and everyone who surely will. Thank you.
Get Well Cards!
Oh, and if anyone wanted to send Get Well cards, flowers, chocolate, or anything like that to Renae that would be so sweet!
(Keep in mind that is the Critical Care Unit so nothing too elaborate,
but once she's in her recovery room you could send real elephants and stuff).
That would make her feel really loved and special (which she is!)
Are We Taking Donations?
Wow! I'm overwhelmed the amazing support, love, and offers for donations. We've even gotten a few already! Wow! Thank you! Generous people!!!!!
Part of me (the scared part) wants to say, "Yes, please help!" But ... some of you might remember a few years back, when we lived in Kansas, and we were about to have a baby and things with the home we were trying to buy (and had been living in for a year) fell through and we had to move in 30 days and didn't know what we were going to do. Back then we asked for donations and took on a ton of commissions and new projects to try to raise the money to save the house. Despite all of our efforts (and yours) it still didn't work out, but we moved to Maine and life is incredible here and we're actually glad now that we didn't stick our roots down there, even if we loved the house.
Everyone was SO generous and helpful, and in fact we still owe some commissions from back then (moving across country and having a baby who didn't sleep for his first 2 years is like jumping in a time warp). So I know we totally don't want to be the people who are like "We need help AGAIN!" You know? And this is something that we can probably work out. We might be paying these medical bills forever, but it's not the same as needing to raise a certain amount by a certain time to save a house or to have a major operation to save a life or anything like that. It's just going to be some really, really bad debt that we were really hoping never to have. Taking a huge bite out of our future plans and the getting ahead of debt that we've been hoping to do forever, that's for sure. BUT, right now we don't have any dire need and there are a lot of people out there who probably do.
Also I can't ask Renae our thoughts on this yet. She'd probably think you're all amazing for wanting to but not want to bother anyone for the help. That's just who she is.
SO, with that in mind (the fact that we've gotten an amazing amount of help before and this isn't an urgent and dire need ... at least not yet ... knock on wood) if you still want to help and totally have it to spare (if you've got your own financial worries, please take care of you and yours first) then you can donate by clicking this button:
But please read the above information before you do that. We'll probably be fine without donations, but of course they would help! But there are people who need it more, too.
You're all just super incredible people for being so sweet and supportive and wanting to help so much.
THANK YOU!!
~Ray
