Ann Downer-Hazell is a young adult book author, science writer, and mom from Somerville MA. She has written fantasy fiction for teenagers -- the Spellkey Trilogy and Hatching Magic -- and wonderful books about the animal world for younger children, like Elephant Talk, Wild Animal Neighbors, and Shark Baby. Her son, Ben, now 15, has grown up on her books and her love for nature, shared with her husband Ed.
After months of mysterious debilitating symptoms and a couple of wrong diagnoses, Ann has recently been diagnosed with ALS. Just since November she has become unable to speak, to eat without choking, and to walk, even with the assistance of leg braces and a cane. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease. It affects motor neurons quickly and progressively, eventually leading to paralysis. Sufferers are completely conscious and cognitively normal but imprisoned in their bodies. There is no cure for ALS. It is a fatal disease.
This diagnosis has upended the lives of Ann and her family. Ann is so much more than this disease, but the disease is winning, grinding down Ed and Ben as well. They need our help and our support.
What they need:
Their small 2-story Boston-area home needs major modifications in order for Ann to be able to stay in her home. They need:
- help with renovation costs for a first floor bathroom - $5000-10000
- help paying for medical costs and home health care, which are only projected to go up as the disease progresses.
Ways you can help:
- Donate to this fundraiser. This is the fastest, most direct, and most immediate way you can be helpful. Click, pay, and share this page with your friends and encourage them to give whatever they can.
- Email Denise Waddington - waddington [dot] [email redacted] - to be added to a local thread of friends and family for bringing meals, helping out with workdays, and helping us to promote this and other fundraising efforts.
- Buy Ann's books . Your kids will love Shark Baby and your older children (and you) will laugh out loud over the terrible "lunch" fixed by the incompetent demon in Hatching Magic.
After months of mysterious debilitating symptoms and a couple of wrong diagnoses, Ann has recently been diagnosed with ALS. Just since November she has become unable to speak, to eat without choking, and to walk, even with the assistance of leg braces and a cane. ALS is a neurodegenerative disease. It affects motor neurons quickly and progressively, eventually leading to paralysis. Sufferers are completely conscious and cognitively normal but imprisoned in their bodies. There is no cure for ALS. It is a fatal disease.
This diagnosis has upended the lives of Ann and her family. Ann is so much more than this disease, but the disease is winning, grinding down Ed and Ben as well. They need our help and our support.
What they need:
Their small 2-story Boston-area home needs major modifications in order for Ann to be able to stay in her home. They need:
- help with renovation costs for a first floor bathroom - $5000-10000
- help paying for medical costs and home health care, which are only projected to go up as the disease progresses.
Ways you can help:
- Donate to this fundraiser. This is the fastest, most direct, and most immediate way you can be helpful. Click, pay, and share this page with your friends and encourage them to give whatever they can.
- Email Denise Waddington - waddington [dot] [email redacted] - to be added to a local thread of friends and family for bringing meals, helping out with workdays, and helping us to promote this and other fundraising efforts.
- Buy Ann's books . Your kids will love Shark Baby and your older children (and you) will laugh out loud over the terrible "lunch" fixed by the incompetent demon in Hatching Magic.