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Extended Family
Jan. 7th, 2016 03:24 pmI'm not very close to much of my extended family. Or my close family. Or anyone for that matter. It's an introvert thing, and it doesn't help that most of my family is mostly crazy or composed of alien replicants. That said, I have almost no contact at all with my father's side of the family: they're complete strangers with whom I happen to share some minor portion of DNA.
Facebook is a boon then, in that I get to see what insanity is happening elsewhere in my geneology around the planet and therefore knowing when not to answer the phone.
Just after xmas, I learned via FB that my cousin, Andy, began suffering from extensive internal bleeding, perhaps related to his Crohn's Disease. After many transfusions, a medically-induced coma and extensive medical intervention, he stabilized a couple of days ago. Indeed, yesterday, I heard he was awake, communicating easily and event got out of bed to stretch a bit, albeit with the help of a walker. All good news.
I also heard yesterday morning that Andy's friends had set up a gofundme.com account in his name since Andy will be recovering for at least another month but there will still be mortgage, food & utilities payments to address. (I believe Andy is married but have no idea if he has kids or the level of his family's means.) I donated some money but I'm happy for Andy that many other people have too: as of this writing, $6,275 has been raised, well above the original $2,000 goal.
All of this gives me some hope for humanity. A person was suffering, but thanks to modern medicine, that same person is recovering. And thanks to Canadian socialized medicine, he's doing it without a mountain of debt compelling personal bankruptcy.
And I think Andy must be doing something right with his life that so many people aren't just sending hopes & prayers, but are also doing practical things to help his family. Sending cash is only a part of that, but it's an exceedingly flexible & useful part. Andy has a network of support.
And it makes me happy that many people are willing to help. It's too easy to look the other way or decide that one's resources are too limited & sparse to be shared, or at least to be shared outside of one's own household.
There's hope for our species after all.
Facebook is a boon then, in that I get to see what insanity is happening elsewhere in my geneology around the planet and therefore knowing when not to answer the phone.
Just after xmas, I learned via FB that my cousin, Andy, began suffering from extensive internal bleeding, perhaps related to his Crohn's Disease. After many transfusions, a medically-induced coma and extensive medical intervention, he stabilized a couple of days ago. Indeed, yesterday, I heard he was awake, communicating easily and event got out of bed to stretch a bit, albeit with the help of a walker. All good news.
I also heard yesterday morning that Andy's friends had set up a gofundme.com account in his name since Andy will be recovering for at least another month but there will still be mortgage, food & utilities payments to address. (I believe Andy is married but have no idea if he has kids or the level of his family's means.) I donated some money but I'm happy for Andy that many other people have too: as of this writing, $6,275 has been raised, well above the original $2,000 goal.
All of this gives me some hope for humanity. A person was suffering, but thanks to modern medicine, that same person is recovering. And thanks to Canadian socialized medicine, he's doing it without a mountain of debt compelling personal bankruptcy.
And I think Andy must be doing something right with his life that so many people aren't just sending hopes & prayers, but are also doing practical things to help his family. Sending cash is only a part of that, but it's an exceedingly flexible & useful part. Andy has a network of support.
And it makes me happy that many people are willing to help. It's too easy to look the other way or decide that one's resources are too limited & sparse to be shared, or at least to be shared outside of one's own household.
There's hope for our species after all.
