Ten days or so ago I shared the story of a wonderful young woman with an interest in publishing, writers and in particular the indie writing scene, how she managed through the generosity of her nature to give a little much-needed confidence to a writer (me) who had just published his first book back in late October 2015. A young woman who since November 2015  has been fighting cancer. That original post, for anyone who missed it can be found here. A young woman who, due to being an American, is having to crowd fund her fight against cancer, because of the American medical system, or lack of it.

That post has been one of the most read posts on the blog in the days that followed, a few friends who read my blogs have spoken to me privately about it, and I know several of my readers have generously gone to Jianna’s Gofundme page and given a little money to her cause. I am, it has to be said, incredibly gratified by this response. I don’t generally put up causes, or links to charities or anything like that. When I give to charity, be it my time or money I do so both privately and anonymously as a rule. I have no intention fo changing that approach and doing fundraising through my blog as a rule, but all the same, it was good to see a post as close to my heart as this one generating a response that was more than just the odd like and the occasional comment. I would like to thank those who were moved to give and could afford to do so. I know at least a couple of people who read the post and wished they had the money to contribute, and I thank them also for their compassion and caring. This has all restored a little of my ever flagging faith in human nature.

What follows is a post form Jianna herself on Facebook, by way of an update, as I feel the original post needs one, and good news is always worth passing on.

I woke up this morning in quite a bit of pain, having slept really terribly. I was also having a hard time breathing, my heart already overworked, my lungs not strong enough to get a solid breath of air.

I closed my eyes tightly and thanked god for answering my prayers from the night before. I prayed to wake up, and I did. All of the other stuff, that didn’t matter.

Eventually, I caught my breath, my heart slowed down and my medications kicked in.

Then, for the first time in eight years, I had a meal with my two brothers. I honestly didn’t think my day could get any better.

Then, my phone rang and I was told that the donation campaign had reached its goal thanks to an extremely generous contribution!

That one contribution wasn’t the reason we hit the goal however, because it was all of you who joined together and shared the post and made donations that made it able to add up to all it was, plus the large donation. No single snowflake ever feels responsible for the avalanche.

I’m so grateful, not just for the donations but for all of you who have showed me that I am very loved and cared about, for all of you who have sent your prayers to heaven on my behalf.

This campaign has relieved so much of my stress. In all honesty, I’ve never felt financially secure in my life. Always having jobs where we’re living paycheck to paycheck, never having anywhere close to $5,000 in my account. My entire income for last year was just under six grand! I can’t even begin to explain how much I value this amount.

Jordan (my wonderful friend who organized this campaign) raised the goal to $10k, seeing as we have so much time remaining. My deductible is $9k. Reaching that amount would cover all out of pocket costs for all of 2019 for me, making it the first year in 3 years where I haven’t accumulated the entire deductible debt into my personal credit.

The remaining 1k would be used to pay off some of the credit card debt I accumulated by going back and fourth to the mayo clinic each month.

Right now however, I’m no longer worried about affording my prescriptions and bottles for this month!!! That’s such a huge deal.

I thank god, I thank all of you, I’m still in awe. I still can’t believe this! Thank you all so much, and I do love you all! I feel like I have such a huge family supporting me, rooting for me. You all give me strength ❤

Jianna’s original very conservative goal has been surpassed, and that has made a huge difference already to her, but a little more would also make a huge difference to her and her family. You can click on the banner below if you wish to know more, or read the original post with the link above.

In any regards, I felt it was important I pass on her thanks to you readers on to my own little part of the internet and my for that matter my own as this is a cause that is close to my cynical rusty Yorkshire heart.

with thank s,  Mark