A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity. Proverbs 17:17

April 16, 2012 My faithful Dell XPS Laptop passed away last week (hard drive crashed). I bought the laptop in 1992. So, I guess it was time to go on to that big laptop heaven in the sky. RIP. I have a new Dell Laptop. Hopefully, it too will serve me as long. When I was told my health insurance was not going to pay the medical bills associated with my cancer, I wondered how other people without health insurances paid their expenses. What do families with sick children and no health insurance do to get medical care for their children? How do the elderly on fixed incomes pay their household bills and buy the medication they need? I have seen so many television reports about people who have sick family members (or they are sick) and have to choose between paying the utilities and buying medication. Do they feed the kids or pay the hospital bill? This made wonder how can I help? I know my cancer was part of the plan the Lord has for me in helping others. I read a story about a 12 year old in England who has been raising money to help people who are sick or who have family members who are sick. He started a website to raise the money through donations. He has been able to help many people, including his own grandmother. I found this inspiring. So, I am in the process of building a website for my own non-profit organization to help people who need financial support during life altering illnesses. I have am been working on the website and should have it up and running soon. If you know of anyone who may need help with paying medical bills, household bills, child care, etc. while they are dealing with a major illness, please email me through this blog letting me know about their situation. When we are fully operational, I will contact them to see how the organization can help them. You can help also. I am seeking volunteers who might be interested in getting the word out. I will provide a flyer about the website with contact information. The flyer can be placed in various places where you live so that people will be able to pick one up. I need volunteers to make copies of the flyer and just leave them where people will have easy access to them. That’s all you have to do. What do you get???? You will get a great feeling of satisfaction for spreading the word and a really cool tee-shirt with the name of the website and web address. Email me at the address on the blog if you are interested in helping. I will keep you posted on the progress of the website. It’s one thing to have a major medical issue but to face it alone is a more difficult situation. Initial, I entertained the thought of keeping my cancer to myself. Then, I realized if I did, I might die alone. I did not want to die alone. I wanted to fight the cancer, even if it meant losing the battle in the end. I could not do this alone. So, I began this blog to reach out to people to pray for me. I knew Jesus would hear your prayers. There are so many people who have to face difficult medical situations alone. Many choose not to reach out to people. Many people do not know how to reach out to others. Then, there are those who are defeated even before they begin the fight. This almost certainly promises them defeat. I learned through my own family reaching out to me, how valuable a healing tool it is to have support in a health crisis. I felt relieved that I did not have to carry the problem on my own. Just having a family member to connect with, and be able to tell them what I was going through, made a big difference in my decision to fight even harder. It is important to keep in contact with family and friends. If you live close to a family member and haven’t seen them in a while, take the time to send an email, a card, a letter, or call them on the phone. Let them know you are thinking about them. If you can, visit them in person. Make contact with friends you haven’t heard from in a while. Find out how they are doing, what they are doing, how their children or pets are doing. Try to get together for lunch or coffee. All we have in this world are the people we call family or friends. Keep them close. "Now when Job’s three friends heard of all this evil that had come upon him, they came each from his own place, Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite. They made an appointment together to come to show him sympathy and comfort him." Job 2:11