
Help Andrew Get Through Health Crisis
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Dear Friends,
Many thanks to everyone who have donated to Andrew's GoFundMe!! I know that some people may have missed this, so I'm re-posting again. Please spread the word far and wide and please share to your Facebook page so we can keep it going and meet our goal!
I’m writing to ask for your help and support for our dear friend Andrew Martin, who is in an ongoing serious health crisis and loss of income. As a result of lead toxicity contracted through his workplace in the Netherlands, Andrew was diagnosed with a malignant tumor inside his bladder. Surgery was performed in November to remove the tumor. Andrew is now in a new, long-term process, one of heavy metal detoxification and healing the cancer.
This shocking news has left me and so many who love and respect him determined to be with him in spirit and to find concrete ways to support him and his wife Pérola as they navigate a path forward. Anyone who knows Andrew knows how kind, generous, selfless, and gifted he is as a person and as a consummate artist/teacher/writer whose lifetime of work in clay reaches far across the globe. I’m inviting you and anyone you know to join me in raising much needed funds to cover Andrew’s ongoing medical costs, dietary supplements, and living expenses in the coming months ahead.
Although many people think that all medical costs are fully covered in the Netherlands, insurance there is much like America. A significant portion of healing care will need to be paid out of pocket, including all the dietary supplements and naturopathic care. To make matters worse, Andrew’s salary has been terminated by the very company whose practices caused this health crisis in the first place. This loss of income (it is not a paid medical leave) means that some of the money we raise will go toward necessary living expenses in addition to health care. Andrew is strong but not alone! Easing this serious financial burden will go a long way to help Andrew and Perola concentrate on healing.
Andrew is a deeply spiritual person who believes in the power of positive energy and all versions of prayer. Like many of you, I am thankful for Andrew as one of my oldest dearest friends, whose pots bring joy to my hands and whose friendship has sustained me through my own serious health issue several years ago. I can tell you this: there is nothing more powerful than the strength of a positive mindset and the loving support of friends near and far who believed I would kick my tumor’s ass.
Please contribute as much or as little as you can - our collective energy and support in any amount will help Andrew through this process of healing.
With Gratitude,
Denise Pelletier
From Andrew:
Thank you all who have contributed to this GoFundMe campaign. Your contributions have been, and continue to be, a lifeline in this time of challenge and change.
I am doing better than a few months ago. I am still tired and take a nap each day. Chelation for the lead detoxification will take weekly IV treatments for a year or more. I have learned that lead mimics calcium and the body will absorb lead in place of calcium. Thus, the lead goes into the bones, nerves, and brain. As a result, I have experienced extreme ‘brain fog’, and continue to experience intense peripheral neuropathy with tingling in my hands throughout the day and intense tingling in my arms and hands at night. When writing by hand, I often loose the feeling of the pen between my fingers – not good for an artist who works with their hands.
It is curious that after fifty years of never working with lead, that in the last three years I get lead poisoning.
With the cancer, the allopathic medical system could offer no cure. Perola and I have found an excellent circle of health professionals that are working hard to turn the situation to a healthy outcome.
For a bit of insane context, the initial news of the lead toxicity came two days after we had demolished the interior of our new house. The renovation of the house has been exactly concurrent with the renovation of the body. Although I had planned to do much of the house renovation myself, that was a physical impossibility and we hired others to complete the work. I tested my limits a few times and did a couple of long days of work and very much regretted it afterwards.
Each day has new qualities and challenges, and we roll with it and go easy on ourselves. Our meditation practice gives us balance and perspective beyond ourselves and moments of difficulty.
Thanks to everyone for your moral, emotional, and financial support in this strange time.
Love,
Andrew
Organizer and beneficiary
Denise Pelletier
Organizer
East Greenwich, RI
Andrew Martin
Beneficiary