HELP PAY CHARLOTTE'S DOCTORS!

Things are tough all over: but some folks are having it even tougher.  I'm here to bring one of those people to your attention.


She's Charlotte Loftus, and she survived bone cancer.  Now she's dealing with a different disease, but she wants to get on with the rest of her life "“ and you can help her do it!


The thing that folks forget about cancer and other life-threatening conditions is that what the disease doesn't take away, the treatment probably will.  Charlotte beat her cancer when she was just 9, and (despite all the limitations imposed by her artificial knee, thigh and shin components, and the numerous surgeries required to maintain them) she managed to get through high school, graduate from college and hit the job market.  She fell in love with me, and we adopted a dog...  and then her liver stopped working.  As Charlotte's energy fell off the map, as her skin began to crawl and her magnificent blue eyes turned a dull yellow, a number of doctors and specialists took more than half a year to diagnose the problem:  Autoimmune Hepatitis.  It's when your immune system thinks your own liver is an infection "“ and, just like the bone tumors that preceded it by so many years, nobody really knows why it happens.

Luckily, Charlotte's new disease wasn't advanced enough for her to need an organ transplant.  The treatment for Autoimmune Hepatitis, however, suppresses her immune system to the point that she gets sick at the drop of a hat and now can't undergo any pain-relieving surgeries on all the scar tissue that's built up around her leg implants.  Her energy level remains severely compromised, too, and it just happens that the main side-effect of her medications turns out to be nausea.

Imagine trying to find a job nowadays with all of that on your back as well as student loans, and you'll get a good picture of what Charlotte is up against.  Since her 31st birthday is coming up, I figure that no gift could possibly be any more appropriate, or more appreciated, than trying to pay down a portion of her new medical debt.  Feel free to donate whatever amount you can, folks - each and every dollar counts!