Allen's Medical and Relocation Fund
Donation protected
Hi everyone, thanks for reading. Its a whirlwind situation and i'll try not to ramble. Its so confronting asking for money, but on the other hand many of my friends who may read this are well off enough it would be silly not to. But don't start at the goal amount: i thought of a way id like to do this which hopefully removes some of the discomfort in all directions.
My goal amount of 10,000 euro seems high and may or may not be reached, but i encourage those of you who are rich and can miss a bunch of money for awhile to consider donating a bunch and designating up to 60% as a zero-interest 2-to-4-year loan. At the moment I'm not sure how much of that I'll actually need to take care of the issues I will now describe, but stress has been what's killing me now for years, and its just been more and more each month, and not worring about how i will pay for the coming adjustments would be an incredible relief. Plus it will help me rescue a life that is in danger of derailing RIGHT AS i finally got it moving on the right track.
As you may know, I was diagnosed with MS in August after having run Sustainable Hosting basically alone for 8 years, been almost fulltime at NovaSeek for 2 years, and having been attacked by 5 belgian guys last year. MS symptoms include things like a leg or arm not working or hurting, muscle spasms, intense sudden fatigue, memory and speech problems, sudden loss of control of a bodily function..and many more but those are just the ones ive already experienced. i expect soon to be going on a drug that will be self-injected three times a week, with the rather likely side effect of feeling as if i have the flu the day after a shot. so maybe looking at months of feeling fluish 3 out of every 7 days on top of those things i listed before, in exchange for stopping the progression. It's a lot to deal with, but was less scary than it could be since Belgium has great health care which makes MS and the crazy expensive drugs to treat it a managable thing. Also had a great house here in the country. And finally, having been doing really good work at NovaSeek Research, a start-up with a very good chance of blowing up in the next few years, I have an income that would generally cover such things. Of course what I've never been able to have is the savings accounts with 4+ digits in it that most belgians take for granted, which basically insures them against emergencies.
Now comes the new twist in the story: My relationship with Maarten is over! After seven and a half years, he's leaving me totally, with no direct support guaranteed: he says he'll try and help me but that's not really that convincing or specific. Also not sure how much I want to accept from him just now!! Meanwhile I am searching for a house and we need to break our domestic partnership ASAP because we believe that it could make him financially liable for debts i make after we part ways tomorrow (i move to a temporary location 24 hours from now: sun 15 oct noon pacific, fast as possible to avoid any more stress).
My friends, this is where the real difficulties and uncertainties come in. I now come with a dog, who I would never give up (in fact i've insured her for 3500 euro!) and its hard as hell finding a place for a dark foreigner and a dog! when i find someone who will rent to me i will probably have to pay extra deposits or a higher rent. meanwhile, my insurance actually comes from maarten's work at the government, not through my own contributions to the system. its possible the healthcare system could demand that i start paying hundreds of euros a month into it. Hopefully they wont demand any penalty for having done it that way until now!! lastly, it was implied to me that the MS drugs i'll be getting actually cost a 4-digit number of euros PER MONTH but they talked quickly right over that to say that the insurance covers almost all. but the insurance has to be active, and i still have to pay for the meds first and wait days for the money to come back. so between first, last, security, pet deposit, physically moving (twice, actually), health insurance and the actual drugs themselves, im predicting some cashflow problems at least!
Until these last few months I was reasonably sure that 2021 might finally be my turn to see a million bucks by doing honest sweat equity work, and it would downright suck if that chance was stolen from me and my family due just to a tough passing moment. So i hope some of you deep-pocketed buddies of mine who've expressed so much love to me in the past will consider investing in a vision of my future that is actually likely to happen. You might actually get the money back! ;) I do ask for zero interest because..well, you can decide for yourself if its nice for you to make money off my misfortune ;) but you get the idea.
As a very last mention i'll extend this carrot: everyone knows that I always visit USA toward the end of the year, which is on its way! Was coming with Maarten but never again. Was a better funded traveller recently but that's now iffy again too. If i'm calculating likely schedules correctly, it seems likely that most of this cash flow uncertainty would come right around when id need to buy plane tickets and then travel. Along with possibly being ill from side effects, it might be enough for me to cancel the american trip entirely for the first (planned) time in nine years. Those reading are generally on my travel path; if you want to see me, or even just want to make sure i get to see my mom and dad who are 81 and 78 years old respectively, think how even temporary financial support would help me be sure to do that.
Thanks again for your time. You know the story now; feel free to donate nothing, as little or as much as you like. Don't let the goal scare OR limit you, especially if you want to make loans, because i'm not going to use the money i dont need!!
Sincerely
[your] allen williams
My goal amount of 10,000 euro seems high and may or may not be reached, but i encourage those of you who are rich and can miss a bunch of money for awhile to consider donating a bunch and designating up to 60% as a zero-interest 2-to-4-year loan. At the moment I'm not sure how much of that I'll actually need to take care of the issues I will now describe, but stress has been what's killing me now for years, and its just been more and more each month, and not worring about how i will pay for the coming adjustments would be an incredible relief. Plus it will help me rescue a life that is in danger of derailing RIGHT AS i finally got it moving on the right track.
As you may know, I was diagnosed with MS in August after having run Sustainable Hosting basically alone for 8 years, been almost fulltime at NovaSeek for 2 years, and having been attacked by 5 belgian guys last year. MS symptoms include things like a leg or arm not working or hurting, muscle spasms, intense sudden fatigue, memory and speech problems, sudden loss of control of a bodily function..and many more but those are just the ones ive already experienced. i expect soon to be going on a drug that will be self-injected three times a week, with the rather likely side effect of feeling as if i have the flu the day after a shot. so maybe looking at months of feeling fluish 3 out of every 7 days on top of those things i listed before, in exchange for stopping the progression. It's a lot to deal with, but was less scary than it could be since Belgium has great health care which makes MS and the crazy expensive drugs to treat it a managable thing. Also had a great house here in the country. And finally, having been doing really good work at NovaSeek Research, a start-up with a very good chance of blowing up in the next few years, I have an income that would generally cover such things. Of course what I've never been able to have is the savings accounts with 4+ digits in it that most belgians take for granted, which basically insures them against emergencies.
Now comes the new twist in the story: My relationship with Maarten is over! After seven and a half years, he's leaving me totally, with no direct support guaranteed: he says he'll try and help me but that's not really that convincing or specific. Also not sure how much I want to accept from him just now!! Meanwhile I am searching for a house and we need to break our domestic partnership ASAP because we believe that it could make him financially liable for debts i make after we part ways tomorrow (i move to a temporary location 24 hours from now: sun 15 oct noon pacific, fast as possible to avoid any more stress).
My friends, this is where the real difficulties and uncertainties come in. I now come with a dog, who I would never give up (in fact i've insured her for 3500 euro!) and its hard as hell finding a place for a dark foreigner and a dog! when i find someone who will rent to me i will probably have to pay extra deposits or a higher rent. meanwhile, my insurance actually comes from maarten's work at the government, not through my own contributions to the system. its possible the healthcare system could demand that i start paying hundreds of euros a month into it. Hopefully they wont demand any penalty for having done it that way until now!! lastly, it was implied to me that the MS drugs i'll be getting actually cost a 4-digit number of euros PER MONTH but they talked quickly right over that to say that the insurance covers almost all. but the insurance has to be active, and i still have to pay for the meds first and wait days for the money to come back. so between first, last, security, pet deposit, physically moving (twice, actually), health insurance and the actual drugs themselves, im predicting some cashflow problems at least!
Until these last few months I was reasonably sure that 2021 might finally be my turn to see a million bucks by doing honest sweat equity work, and it would downright suck if that chance was stolen from me and my family due just to a tough passing moment. So i hope some of you deep-pocketed buddies of mine who've expressed so much love to me in the past will consider investing in a vision of my future that is actually likely to happen. You might actually get the money back! ;) I do ask for zero interest because..well, you can decide for yourself if its nice for you to make money off my misfortune ;) but you get the idea.
As a very last mention i'll extend this carrot: everyone knows that I always visit USA toward the end of the year, which is on its way! Was coming with Maarten but never again. Was a better funded traveller recently but that's now iffy again too. If i'm calculating likely schedules correctly, it seems likely that most of this cash flow uncertainty would come right around when id need to buy plane tickets and then travel. Along with possibly being ill from side effects, it might be enough for me to cancel the american trip entirely for the first (planned) time in nine years. Those reading are generally on my travel path; if you want to see me, or even just want to make sure i get to see my mom and dad who are 81 and 78 years old respectively, think how even temporary financial support would help me be sure to do that.
Thanks again for your time. You know the story now; feel free to donate nothing, as little or as much as you like. Don't let the goal scare OR limit you, especially if you want to make loans, because i'm not going to use the money i dont need!!
Sincerely
[your] allen williams
Organizer
Allen Williams
Organizer
Antwerp
