Health Care for Awl

Dave Awl. You know Dave Awl: poet, playwright, performer, d.j., copywriter, editor, and social media guy.


Dave has been dealing with some new health challenges this year. He got really sick in late March and April, with severe nausea and abdominal pain, lightheadedness, dizziness, fatigue, and episodes of double vision among other symptoms, and dropped about twenty pounds. At first Dave thought it might be COVID, but it took several weeks before Dave could get tested — at which point he was negative for both the COVID virus and the antibodies, although the antibody test might not be reliable. 

From there Dave wound up getting sent to a number of specialists, including a gastroenterologist who diagnosed him with multiple ulcers and various intestinal issues. The gastroenterologist put Dave on ulcer meds and the ulcers eventually healed, but some of the symptoms are continuing so the next step is an ultrasound to check for gall bladder issues.

Meanwhile, Dave saw a neurologist who sent him for an MRI because of the double vision. The MRI came back normal and the double vision might, we hope, be the result of "silent migraines" (aka migraine aura without headache), but Dave's neurologist isn't sure of that. And nobody's sure what's causing the lightheadedness, dizziness, and bouts of fatigue, so more specialists are being consulted.

In the meantime, Dave's score so far is six doctors including five specialists, two endoscopies, an EKG, an MRI, a colonoscopy, and an upcoming ultrasound, with more adventures on the way. And the medical bills for all this, as you might imagine, are simply glorious. 

Dave's insurance caps his out-of-pocket expenses at $6,750 and he's fast approaching that amount. That doesn't include all the ancillary expenses of health care: getting to and from appointments, services and treatments not covered by insurance, over-the-counter drugs, etc. 

So we're appealing to the community of Dave's friends, fellow artists, and fans to help shoulder the burden. If you're in a position to lend a hand, we hope you will. Any money you give will go directly to Dave to pay off medical expenses, so he can spend his paycheck on other stuff, like rent and food.

Team Ocelot Factory is Ayun Halliday, Phil Ridarelli, and Diana Slickman. We are friends who go way back with Dave, all the way to the last century when we were all Neo-Futurists together.

As if helping Dave were not in itself reward enough, we've got some modest thank you gifts for anyone who donates to Dave Fund! You can be the recipient of an Italian recipe from Phil's mom! Diana will send you a personalized postcard out of her vast stash of postcards! Maybe we'll send you a packet of flower seeds. Ayun is putting together a dance video that you can participate in!

Also, to anyone who makes a donation of any amount, Dave will send upon request a short PDF manuscript of unpublished poems, from the larger manuscript he's been working on. Dave says he doesn't want to be like U2 gratuitously stuffing their album into everyone's iTunes library, so if you want him to send you the PDF you can leave a comment with the codeword #YESPOEMSPLEASE.

There will probably be more, so check back!

Thanks for helping us help our friend Dave.

Team Ocelot Factory