Help Dr. No!
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This GoFundMe has been created for our friend, Dr. Amanda Clarke Nowakowski. Here is her story:
My husband, Joe Nowakowski, died in June of 2014 three months after we discovered that he had metastasized kidney cancer. Though he had been feeling poorly for months, we never thought that his aching back was caused by aggressive tumors eroding his spine, or that his absentmindedness was from lesions that had spread to his brain. Before his illness, he had been an avid tennis player, an active ultramarathoner, a devoted dad, and a wonderful husband.
After Joe died, I found out that his business had been suffering for many months and he had, in the desperation and muddled thinking caused by his undiagnosed brain tumors, borrowed heavily to keep our lives going. Finally and the most difficult of all, without telling anyone, he cancelled his life insurance policy to save money. All of this was so unlike Joe – he had become a man desperate to save his business and family whose brain and decision making were afflicted by an unknown disease. So after his death, we were faced with a mountain of debt and bills, along with the sorrow that he had been living with a secret anguish as he scrambled to take care of his family.
Because we had no equity in our house, we lost our beautiful home and had to find families for our beloved dogs, the finicky poodle Oliver and lumbering Lab puppy Hugo. Before we moved, we donated all of our possessions – furniture, clothing, kitchen supplies, camping, gardening, and sport equipment, tables, paintings, televisions, computers. As we gave everything away, we knew the things were inconsequential. My daughters and I still had our health and each other, and we were bolstered time again by the support of family, the kindness of friends, and the guidance of church.
This week, however, we received another blow. Because of California law that took effect in January, I am being taxed on the over $475,000 that I lost in our house. I have learned that this is called “phantom income” – since I never saw it! When I found out that my tax bill will be nearly $50,000, I almost passed out. I am a widow, a high school English teacher with a daughter going to college next year, and I have very little in savings due to my attempts to settle all of my husband’s debts honorably.
I have worked since I was fifteen (starting out in a Stuckey’s in Knoxville, Tennessee!) and I have always been self-supporting, but I can’t handle this final catastrophe on my own. I thank anyone who could contribute, even in small way, to help me and my daughters!
My husband, Joe Nowakowski, died in June of 2014 three months after we discovered that he had metastasized kidney cancer. Though he had been feeling poorly for months, we never thought that his aching back was caused by aggressive tumors eroding his spine, or that his absentmindedness was from lesions that had spread to his brain. Before his illness, he had been an avid tennis player, an active ultramarathoner, a devoted dad, and a wonderful husband.
After Joe died, I found out that his business had been suffering for many months and he had, in the desperation and muddled thinking caused by his undiagnosed brain tumors, borrowed heavily to keep our lives going. Finally and the most difficult of all, without telling anyone, he cancelled his life insurance policy to save money. All of this was so unlike Joe – he had become a man desperate to save his business and family whose brain and decision making were afflicted by an unknown disease. So after his death, we were faced with a mountain of debt and bills, along with the sorrow that he had been living with a secret anguish as he scrambled to take care of his family.
Because we had no equity in our house, we lost our beautiful home and had to find families for our beloved dogs, the finicky poodle Oliver and lumbering Lab puppy Hugo. Before we moved, we donated all of our possessions – furniture, clothing, kitchen supplies, camping, gardening, and sport equipment, tables, paintings, televisions, computers. As we gave everything away, we knew the things were inconsequential. My daughters and I still had our health and each other, and we were bolstered time again by the support of family, the kindness of friends, and the guidance of church.
This week, however, we received another blow. Because of California law that took effect in January, I am being taxed on the over $475,000 that I lost in our house. I have learned that this is called “phantom income” – since I never saw it! When I found out that my tax bill will be nearly $50,000, I almost passed out. I am a widow, a high school English teacher with a daughter going to college next year, and I have very little in savings due to my attempts to settle all of my husband’s debts honorably.
I have worked since I was fifteen (starting out in a Stuckey’s in Knoxville, Tennessee!) and I have always been self-supporting, but I can’t handle this final catastrophe on my own. I thank anyone who could contribute, even in small way, to help me and my daughters!
Organizer and beneficiary
Jill Cohen Shaw
Organizer
Calabasas, CA
Amanda Clarke
Beneficiary
