<div>Hi there, My name is Samantha, but we are all friends here, so feel free to call me Sam or even Bully (My last name is Bull!) For those of you who are new friends, let me give you a quick rundown of who I am, and then I'll jump into my story!
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<div>If you ask anyone who knows me to name things they know I like, they will very quickly shout out three things: Sharks (my favorite animal), Penny (the bestest dog who ever dogged), and the Dallas Stars. I'm a pretty big Mavs fan, too, but once I found hockey, I was instantly hooked. Seriously, halfway through my first game, I was like, "This is the greatest sport that has ever existed, ever!"
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<div>Other than that, I'm quirky but fairly normal. I mentioned my little dog, Penny; she's the center of my whole world, so I made sure to include her in the video on this page.
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<div>So I guess you all want to know why we are here, huh? There is a very long, complicated story, which I will share below for everyone interested, but let's get the important details out of the way first.
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<div>I am currently just a Texas girl stranded in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I left Texas on May 3 for a cruise and was supposed to be home on May 12; however, here I am! To say this has been an experience is quite an understatement.
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<div>I will explain in detail my story below, but here is the rundown. I became ill on the ship and went to the ship clinic, where they tested my blood and determined that I had End Stage Renal Disease and deemed me unsafe to travel. They immediately had me admitted to the next port, which turned out to be Halifax. Since then, I have received 6 dialysis sessions and one blood transfusion. I've been poked and prodded so many times I would make a pincushion jealous!
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<div>I am finally well enough that the doctors have cleared me for travel. However, we've hit a huge snag; they do things differently in Canada! Because I do not have the proper medical insurance to cover my ongoing treatment, the hospital staff will not discharge me until they know I can financially continue my dialysis sessions. At this point, my only option is Medicare, but I have spoken with several people there, and the best they can do is tell me that they can give me an appointment to have my case reviewed on July 10.
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<div>I can't stay in Canada until July, y'all. If I don't see my little Penny soon, I'm going to lose it!
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<div>So, I came up with this idea that I thought maybe all of you could help me with. Another issue I've had here is I cannot watch my Stars games. It concerns international rights, so I've had to listen to the Ticket broadcast to get my games. Thank GOD we have the best commentators in the sport!
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<div>Anyway, I thought - What if I could make it my goal to be home in time to see the Dallas Stars win it all? Because there is NO DOUBT in my mind that my boys have this in the bag - this is our year! And I need to see Pavs raise that trophy. I can't just hear it on the radio!
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<div>This is my plea to all of you. If I can raise enough money to cover the costs of my treatments until I can get Medicare to start, the hospital will release me. The Stars have such an amazing set of fans, and I know my brothers and sisters will come through for me!
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<div>If you don't care about the details, skip down to the next section marked by asterisks - this will detail what will happen to the money that is raised over the goal amount - and there is a very important message to it as well that everyone needs to hear.
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<div>I left my home in Texas on May 3 to fly into Montreal for a Canadian/New England Cruise. I had been looking forward to this one for a while; I had been so stressed out and run down for a while I just needed a break.
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<div>On the evening of May 4, we set sail from Montreal and woke up the next morning in Quebec. Our excursion that day took us to a little island off the shores of old Quebec City, where we went to a sugar shack and sampled legit maple pie, tea, coffee, and syrup and finished it up with a traditional snow-covered maple taffy. I'm not a big fan of maple, but it was still very cool to see that they actually tap trees as they show on TV, with a little spigot stuck into the tree. From there, we went to the magnificent Montmorency Falls. It was at this time I started to realize things weren't quite right. The falls were just a bit of a walk from where the bus parked - a distance that, on any given day, I would traverse 12 times just during routine grocery shopping, so for the beauty and grandeur that lay before me, it should have been nothing.
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<div>I couldn't do it. I took one look at the walk, and everything inside my body said, "Girl if you make that walk, they WILL be carrying you out in a body bag." So I waited at the top with the very talkative tour guide who had seen this waterfall every day for who knows how long and was far more interested in what life in Texas is like. And for those of you who know me and my introverted self, the hell I was currently in was almost worse than the idea of making the walk to that waterfall.
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<div>To add to the excitement, it had started to rain, and the temperature was dropping. I was so miserable; all I wanted to do was go back to my bed on the cruise ship.
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<div>The next stop was Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We didn't have any excursions for this day and had just planned to get out and explore on our own, but instead, I opted not to even get off the ship, and I let my friend go without me. This raised the biggest flag of them all. I LOVE to travel and see new things, and the fact that I wasn't even interested in going to see a place I had never been to in my life was quite peculiar.
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<div>I should also add somewhere that the times on the ship weren't much fun either. I had no appetite whatsoever and was barely eating enough to keep a bird alive. This was the first cruise that I've ever paid extra for the drink package, and I had fully intended to take advantage of it but barely did - the cruise line certainly came out ahead on that one. But the worst part was that my traveling partner and I are huge board game geeks, and our favorite part of cruising is the downtime that we can never seem to find at home for some board games. We tried to play twice, and I just couldn't get into it. My brain wasn't functioning correctly, and the only thing I could think about was how much I wanted to go back to bed.
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<div>I managed to find a lot of solace lying by the pool - sleeping. Pretty much all of my time was spent sleeping. Some people may think that's what you're supposed to do on vacation, but I am NOT that kind of traveler - I've never understood the "Let's go to the beach and just lay there all day" idea of vacationing.
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<div>The next day was Sydney, Nova Scotia. Our excursion wasn't until later in the day, so I, of course, spent the first half of the day sitting by the pool while my friend, Rick, went and explored the city by himself. He returned later, and I felt well enough to want to attempt our excursion. I had actually been looking forward to it - a ghost/history tour of the city. I LOVE history, and I'm mildly amused by ghost stories, so I was excited about this one. As we got off the ship and the cold wind bit me, it took my breath, and I had to stop for a moment to catch it. The meeting place wasn't far; a group had already gathered. I stood there for a moment, the muscles in my legs burning from lack of oxygen. I searched desperately for a place to sit while we waited and finally found a pile-on. Once the tour started, I joined the group, and we began walking. The first walk wasn't too far, but I still had to sit when we stopped. It was nice to sit and listen to a little history, and I was enjoying the tour guide's style. He finished his spiel and began walking up a hill. A hill that wasn't all that daunting looking, honestly, but after stopping at least 6 times and finally making it to the top, I let the group continue on to the next point. I eventually rejoined them for the next stop, but as they kept going, I just couldn't do it anymore, and I turned away from the group and walked back to the ship. Unfortunately, I had been dumb and had forgotten to ask Rick for my passport, so I was not allowed back on the ship. I had to sit in the freezing wind and wait for the group to return.
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<div>It was then that I promised Rick I would go to the ship clinic, and as soon as we got back on, I called, and they told me to just come straight down. Upon my arrival, the doctor did several tests - an EKG on my heart, tested for diabetes, and a blood workup. After waiting for a while, the doctor entered the room and told me we needed to have a "difficult conversation." That's something you never want to hear from a doctor!
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<div>So, it turned out that I was in severe kidney failure. My numbers were completely off the charts ( I've put a table below of some of the highlights, if you know anything about these numbers, you can see I was literally poisoning myself!). They made plans that night to have me admitted at the next port, which ended up being Halifax, and that's where I've been ever since.
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<div>I'm feeling much better now, and I am so ready to get home!
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<div>This has been quite the experience, but the worst part of it is that I ruined my friend's experience. He needed this trip more than anyone, and I made it so miserable. I was mean-spirited to him and said some hateful things, mostly because I just didn't feel good and just wanted to be left alone, but he didn't deserve any of it.
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<div>Let me tell you a little about my friend, Rick. He has a way of getting very attached to things, ideas, feelings, and sentiments - and one thing that he has been obsessed with for years is the mystery of the treasure at Oak Island, just off the coast of Halifax. He'd known about this story long before a show was created about it, and the most important excursion on this trip was the one in Halifax. We were going to Oak Island.
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<div>Y'all - I was so happy for him when he bought those tickets because I knew how much it meant to him, and I was so honored to be the one who got to go with him. He was fulfilling a lifelong dream - something that all of us aspire to do at some point in our lives.
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<div>And do you know what he did when we got to Halifax? He sat in a crusty hospital room with me the entire time until he had to leave to get back on the ship. I was heartbroken knowing he was there with me instead of fulfilling his dream, but that's what true friendship is about.
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<div>So, after my Medicare kicks in and I am, hopefully, reimbursed, all of the money that was used for this purpose, as well as anything gained over the goal, will go directly towards bringing Rick back to Nova Scotia and taking him to Oak Island.
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<div>Let me tell you a little bit more about this guy. We were roommates for 5 years, and even though we had our squabbles and I thought I was ready to move on at the time, I look back on it as the best 5 years of my adult life. Since then, he has always supported me and been by my side, even though I have not been the best friend to him. I've lied and stolen and cheated from him; I've been dishonest, disloyal, and just plain crappy at times. But he has been there and remains a huge support system, and I wouldn't be able to make it through all of this mess if I didn't have him on my side.
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<div>I literally owe him my life.
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<div>Thank you so much for visiting and considering my cause.
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Get Me Home In Time To See Dallas Stars WIN THE STANLEY CUP!

Get Me Home In Time To See Dallas Stars WIN THE STANLEY CUP!

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