Hello. My name is Ernie. I'm an artist (oil painter) and a Crohn's disease sufferer/fighter. I kindly and respectfully please ask for your help. I’m in need of financial support that would allow me to purchase highly needed medicinal and nutritional supplements that will greatly help me fight my battle with Crohn's, and better control the ongoing complications of a past surgery. The supplements I need are quite out of my reach financially (and health insurance will not cover), and secondarily, the few painting materials I need are, as well, out of reach financially.

With your kind support I can get (and keep) Crohn's under control and continue on my journey as an oil painter and artist, as well as.

Please take a moment and read my story that follows.

(And yes, that's me and several of my oil paintings which you see above.)

(About Crohn's disease: One of the most serious complications of irritable bowel syndrome. Crohn's disease is a serious persistent inflammatory disease of the intestinal tract, especially the colon. Crohn's is both painful and debilitating and can potentially lead to life-threatening complications.)

My Story. Please take a few minutes to read.

Life throws us challenges, and a few diverging roads that, if allowed, take us off a path we were perhaps intended to journey upon, and away from the destination at which we were meant arrive.

My ideal path is a road that affords me good health and allows me to continue and expand my education and growth as an oil painter, and to constantly improve at my craft.

My destination, my goal, is to be a full-time oil painter. To create a beautiful, captivating and intriguing body of work to be enjoyed by family, friends, and in time, patrons and hopefully a few collectors. And to do so without the heavy burden of Crohn's impacting my daily life.

Some backstory....

In early 2020, I returned to painting, after a near 30-year hiatus. During those years, I travelled along the divergent roads of life, a steady paycheck (translation: many years of non-art related jobs), marriage, sadly divorce, unintended distractions, and years of fighting an ongoing battle with the chronic digestive monster Crohn's disease.

This opportunity to return to painting presented itself unexpected in 2020 as a Covid-related six-month job furlough. Though very disappointing, the furlough had a bright side. It provided me a precious six-month window to find myself again. And I indeed found the best part of me. I found myself in front of my patiently awaiting easel. It's during this period my life path changed.

I embarked upon a very hectic journey of many long days and many long nights of artistic self-rediscovery. I painted nearly every day and well into many nights. Painting with passion and focus, often to the point of near exhaustion. Knowing that this window of opportunity would last only so long. I finally released long-suppressed desires and the pent-up artistic skills that I'd tamped down for many years to make way for other concerns and priorities in life. During those tiring but artistically fruitful months, I found my true self, my calling, again. I progressed despite dealing with serious active Crohn's and an active abdominal enterocutaneous fistula which required the wearing of an ostomy bag.

Sadly, this journey was interrupted, first, by an unexpected and very serious complication in my decades-long battle with Crohn's disease. The complication required immediate attention and would culminate in my third digestive surgery. This time a more radical resection and unfortunate loss of my remaining damaged large intestine. This surgery would greatly affect my quality-of-life. This was followed by a challenging hospitalization, recuperation, and also an unbearably long period away from my easel.

The second interruption of my artistic rebirth was the scheduled end of my job furlough.

I had no alternative but to return to the day-to-day job. The bills must be paid, and medical insurance must be kept.

So now with even less digestive tract than before, new problematic bathroom urgencies, and pronounced weight loss, but (there is a bright side) with a successful return to painting, I returned to the workforce.

(With my new health complications and level of Crohn's seriousness, it would be much preferred to manage this challenge in the controlled environment of home, with its predictability, convenience and proximity of a bathroom and ability to rest when it's needed.)

Currently, I am still firmly and steadily on my journey of artistic growth with full intention of achieving my goal of being a full-time artist. The day job (which is not at home) makes that a challenge, as does ever-present Crohn's, the occasional horrible flare-ups, and those post-surgery limitations and inconveniences that affect my ability to work and travel for long hours unfettered.

My pre-Covid-furlough job position, for which I feel I was quite good, required considerable travel, which now, for medical reasons, I can no longer perform. As a result, with my medical challenges, I had no choice but to take a different, lower paying position requiring little travel. As you may guess, I've taken a serious financial hit - A financial hit that's required me to sell my car and rid myself of all related expenses. Suffice to say, money is pretty tight. I eat, however with dietary compromises, and with less digestive tract, I eat much less than the average adult. I pay bills (mostly). However, practically no money remains for other needs, and there is nothing left for luxuries.

The dietary and nutritional supplements that I need to fight my battle with the ravages of Crohn's are vital. So important are they, that even my short-term health, and the stabilization of my disease depend upon them.

Unfortunately, they are a costly luxury that I simply cannot afford.

Therein lies the challenge.

This part is difficult for me. I've always relied on myself or did without. Now my need is great, but my ability to provide for myself falls short.

So, this part is really difficult.

I have no alternative but to humbly ask you for financial support.

Please help me.

Your gracious financial help will allow me to:

1) Buy specialized the nutritional supplements which medical insurance does not cover. These supplements will help stop and reverse my weight loss and nutritional losses from Crohn’s disease and counter the ongoing effects of the past surgery. These include Kate Farms nutritional supplements that would give my digestive tract the vital time it needs for rest and healing away from the damage of eating solid food; AbsorbPlus supplements also for nutritional support and gut healing away from solid food; Immunocal glutathione supplement for intestinal healing and immune system support; oral rehydration supplements to help stem the constant dehydration I suffer from the removal of my large intestine. These are a few of the needed supplements I will be purchasing.

As far as art materials, they are of course, a secondary concern, however I need to continue painting, if anything, for my mind, soul and life-purpose as an artist.

2) I would like to buy support panels for future paintings, and a few needed tubes of oil paint.

3) I could really use decent padded stool so I can finally sit while I paint (Standing for continuous hours painting at my easel after a full workday is really tiring.)

Again, I humbly ask for your donations to help me continue in my battle with Crohn's and to continue along my artistic journey.

With greatest respect and deepest appreciation, from the bottom of my heart, I thank you.

Know that your donations will be a part of my health recovery and my art.

*** Health update: Spent two weeks of late November 2023 in the hospital for treatment and recovery of a bad Crohn's flare up.

Most recently, late February into March 2024, I've been fighting through a few painful extraintestinal Crohn's symptoms. However, I've not let them take me down. I'm a fighter...

Thank you for your time,

Ernie Heyward

You can find my work on Instagram:

www.instagram.com/ernieheyward