GoFundMe

[eds1275]

Hey Y'all. I've had a rough time with life these past few years and the beatings apparently will not keep coming. Here's the short version:

• One-sided surprise divorce that left me out almost $90k.
• Had a headache and went to the doctor, turns out I had a brain tumour growing for most of my life.
• Recovering from surgery, I was robbed and lost a lot of the gear that I used to run my audio business.
• Just found out my work is going to do the rest of the year acoustically, as in without me mixing the audio (I mix audio live for musical theatre.)
• I'm going to get another brain tumour in the future. I'm only 36 years old and this bad news feels a little too early in my life.

I hate asking for help, and I really don't want to hear anything negative about this - I've a lot of negativity in my life as is, and if you don't agree with this then I would prefer you keep it to yourself. However if you think you can help out I would be most grateful, and if you can't do any more than a share every little bit helps. I reached out to Saint and got his blessing before I posted this as it's an arcade forum and I thought that asking would be the most respectful thing to do before I posted. Before you click the link, watch out. There's a few gnarly pictures of my head after they put my face back on (They took my tumour out through my forehead, but to save my face they cut across the top of my head and peeled my face off to my eyes.)

https://www.gofundme.com/andrew-got-sick

[Mike A]

Everyone needs a helping hand sometime in their life. Life kicked me in the balls a few years ago. I know what it is like to have your whole world fall apart. I threw some money towards your cause. I hope it helps. If you need someone to talk to or just to listen, PM me. My prayers are with you. If you don't believe that stuff, then my thoughts are with you.

[Malenko]

Like Mike said, everyone needs help one time or another. I would prefer if you would PM me your Paypal address as GoFundMe wont let me do it anonymously and I don't want to give them my info.
You've always been a stand up guy here so I dont mind helping. I'd also like to extend an invitation that if you ever need someone to talk to Im an instant message away.


I hope things turn around for you.

[eds1275]

Hello again everyone. I didn't know that there's no anonymity on GoFundMe. I'll admit that I don't worry about that stuff personally but if you do, I have also set up a PayPal link that goes to there instead in case you don't want to give your details or have them show. Or whatever other reasons.

https://www.paypal.me/andrewgotsick

I will keep checking back in often. I don't use screens much at all any more, the downside of having something with a circumference of 6.5 cm in your head that doesn't belong is that it doesn't leave room for the good stuff and as a result my left eye got crushed and is mostly blind. I'm on some really nasty medication to reduce the swelling and in theory when that's gone away they can see if there's anything left worth saving. The vision is so different between the two that I can't focus on things for long, such as reading, playing video games, television, etc. I can still legally drive however and they even say I can still ride my motorcycle however I voluntarily don't do that one. Hopefully the visit to the eye specialist on the 31st will have good news for me!

[BadMouth]

Hello again everyone. I didn't know that there's no anonymity on GoFundMe. I'll admit that I don't worry about that stuff personally but if you do, I have also set up a PayPal link that goes to there instead in case you don't want to give your details or have them show. Or whatever other reasons.

Below where the donor enters their name, there is a check box to not have your information displayed on the gofundme page.
You as the recipient will still see the name, but it's not public.

I can still legally drive however and they even say I can still ride my motorcycle however I voluntarily don't do that one. Hopefully the visit to the eye specialist on the 31st will have good news for me!

I've been riding a motorcycle with one eye for decades. 

EDIT: FYI Canukistan$ = .76 Murican$ today
Now I feel like an ---uvula--- who used a promo code.

[eds1275]

I've been riding a motorcycle with one eye for decades. 

I'm more worried about the fact that I live near an elementary school than for my own safety

[Malenko]

Below where the donor enters their name, there is a check box to not have your information displayed on the gofundme page.
You as the recipient will still see the name, but it's not public.

Yes but gofundme now has your email address, not a fan of that.  I paypalled him directly (and ate the $3 USD to CAD fee)

[DaOld Man]

Wow eds, when it rains it pours.
My wife of 10 years filed for divorce and my lawyer says I will probably have to give her 55 thousand of my 401 K which I have worked for for 30 years.
Life is not fair and women can be very mean when they want to be. Thank God we didnt have any kids together.
So I know some of what you are going through, but my health is pretty good for my age (as far as I know).
Anyway, I pitched in a little bit, not much but maybe it will help out.
Take care man, wishing you the best.

[pbj]

If anyone reading this thread is in Houston, or willing to travel to Houston, I can probably get you a free MRI.  In fact, I can probably get you paid to do it.  It'll go into a "neuro normal study" where they're trying to get baseline images of people of varying backgrounds to compare concussion patients to.  It'll also get looked at to make sure there aren't any problems.  I know two people that have uncovered completely unknown issues because of these types of scans - one had a tumor, the other had a deeply rooted infection.

That's my brain in the profile pic.  I'm fatter than you and fit in the tube.

[eds1275]

I can probably get you a free MRI.

I'm glad that it's "free" in Canada, eh? But there's often a too long wait list. I was rushed in last year. I had a cat scan on December 9, and an MRI on the 11th. On the 12th I was told my surgery was scheduled for the 21st. If I lived until then. So I didn't have too long to freak out about it at least. I keep getting told how brave I was. I just didn't have time to really think it through. I can only imagine if I got the verdict on like August 10th and was scheduled for December 21. That's way too long to think about it.

I've got a few donations rolling in now and I haven't even rolled this out anywhere on my more personal networks yet, waiting for when my girlfriend's daughter goes back to school beginning of September because there's likely to be a lot of emotions flying around and I don't think she needs to see that (she's 6 and recently lost her grandma, and knows I have been sick but not to what extent.) So thank you everyone, it is all very humbling and awkward for me to reach out but that doesn't mean I don't appreciate it. This is my first time being down so hard I need help up.

[eds1275]

 

Yesterday I was informed that there was "something" on my brain scan and that instead of 15/20 years before I have a problem to deal with there's a 90% chance it will be in the next 7. Next Friday I go to my neuro-opthamologist and he's going to measure my eye to check if it can be fixed. I'm pretty sour today so I'm not optimistic but maybe...

[nexusmtz]

I hope you hear good news. Take care.

[BadMouth]

There is nothing you can do but keep taking the next step.  KEEP TAKING THE NEXT STEP.   

[eds1275]

KEEP TAKING THE NEXT STEP.   

Yeah I plan to keep on keepin' on. I'm pretty good about making sure I keep my head out of the bad thoughts too much. I have some bad days but I have lots of support and all that. It all seems to come out when you're down, but I kinda wish people made me more of a priority before I got sick. I'm of course grateful for the network of friends and whatnot, but where were all these people from my past these last 20 years???

[Mike A]

Try not to focus on where they were. Focus on the fact that they want to help you now. Give people a chance to redeem themselves. They might surprise you. I wish you the best. Just keep pushing forward.

[RayB]

That's my brain in the profile pic.  I'm fatter than you and fit in the tube.

Oh no, it appears you have... Pacmania!

[jennifer]

 eds: That's like a horrible story, worse in fact, Jenn will go look at that gofund/paypal page too.

[eds1275]

eds: That's like a horrible story, worse in fact, Jenn will go look at that gofund/paypal page too.

Hey thanks. Things have been going ok for a bit, I started reacting to the medicine I'm on when the dosage was increased again and I broke out in constant hives. I've been weaning myself into a lower dose of it (back to my "normal" high dose) until October 5th, and then I'll be talking to the doctor about trying some other options. This medicine is supposed to help my bruised eye socket, which will in fact heal up over time on it's own, but I am going nutbar not being able to read/play video games/watch television. E-books are not the same, and covering my bad eye is not recommended by the doctor because it will further weaken that eye and strengthen the other one. I figured I'd just throw that out there before everyone suggests it. Also marijuana is not the answer. So if I can heal up then I can hopefully explore what my options are for saving what vision is left in the eye and improving it. It currently is like a carnival mirror, everything is not only blurry but wildly slanted and distorted.

[eds1275]

Quite a bit has been going on with me since the last update, things have been rough. The landlord has been doing some upgrades to the house. Nothing that makes it better to live in but definitely looks better. New roof since the old one dumped the weather into my bedroom, but I think there's a mold problem now. The doctor says that there's "nothing they can do" about my left eye vision loss, but I'm gonna give it some time and then go see a different doctor for another opinion. I don't really want to give up on this. I saw another doctor, my brain doctor last week and he pressed on my skull over the plate. It crunched and it startled us both, so there's going to be more tests soon about my skull. We also went from MRIs every 4 months down to every 3 because some of the doctors are seeing things others aren't and they want to keep a closer eye on it.

The real piss off though is the absolute betrayal from my younger brother. I don't like him at the best of times, but I'm always there trying to make sure he's included because he has no friends or social life (100% his fault. He's not a pleasant person.) Some examples include me renting an expensive cabin on the other side of the island we live on so that we can try to get in some family time, and inviting him to my birthday party up a mountain to go snow tubing. He wanted to do more "brotherly stuff, like buy a boat together and fix it up" so I bought a boat that I'm now trying to sell. Yesterday I found out that not only did he just talk trash about me the entire trip up the mountain, but he's also been keeping my ex-wife updated on my life including information about my current girlfriend and her child which is really none of her business. I got mad and didn't think it was the time to try to talk to him about it. Instead, I got on a boat and went to the mainland where I'll be for a few days staying with some friends from my childhood.

There's been some good too of course. My strength has been coming back. Last year at this time I couldn't mow the lawn or pick up a gallon of milk, but yesterday morning I went on a 30 kilometer bike ride, mowed the lawn, chopped up a bunch of firewood (with a chainsaw, no axe swinging yet) and then went to work setting up a sound system for the summer show for 12 hours. I'm a little sore today but it feels good to not feel as crippled.