Everyone has a story to tell; this is just a part of ours.

Hi, we are the Authement Family. Carl and Hillary, along with our kids and extended kids. In the photo, from left to right: Michael, Carl, Hillary, James, Madelyn, Bradley, and Gabriel. At the end of 2021, Carl began experiencing health issues that made it challenging to work through, including vertigo, nausea and shakes/tremors that became debilitating. It was causing problems with simply being able to walk or even stand without experiencing severe health problems. We were able to test for a few things, but ultimately we have not been able to pinpoint the exact problem...yet.

Some therapy we found through an awesome customer seemed to help a little. We tried several other treatments, but unfortunately, nothing has been able to keep the symptoms at bay. A day or two would pass without symptoms and then quickly return even with the treatment. Hopefully, we can figure out what is causing Carl’s health issues and either lessen or eliminate the symptoms. Some medical tests can be financially out of reach when we are in our first years of opening a comic book shop. It has put an enormous burden on our little store when it became more difficult for Carl to even go in each day. To the point that Michael (our oldest son) had to quit his regular job and has been filling in full-time to keep the store going. It would mean the world to us to finally figure out Carl's health issues and get them resolved. We are trying to raise funds to complete more medical tests to get this figured out and have Carl back in the shop where he loves to be. Sharing this or any affordable donation would be greatly appreciated!

A little more about our family's journey to this point:

Our family moved to Henderson about two months before the Covid shutdowns happened. At that time, Michael was still in the Marines, and James was in Alaska. We moved here because Hillary wanted to start her career for what she went to college, Hospitality Management. Covid changed everything for us ALL. In the meantime, we got to know the previous owner, Tom, of Cactus Comics. Sadly his health was declining, and he had been looking for someone to take over the shop he had run for almost 30 years. We had come to a beautiful agreement for both sides, and he would stay for a few months to help us learn the ropes of the business. Tragically, he passed away the same week during Thanksgiving time.

Everyone who collects comic books dreams of one day owning a comic book store and being successful at it. We wanted not only to continue this fantastic and iconic “old school” comic shop but steadily grow through outstanding customer service. Our customer base did grow, and we were achieving our goals. We have received tons of positive feedback from our new and existing clientele on google reviews and other sites. We truly appreciate those reviews because that was one of our main goals in successfully owning a shop.

Our first year went well, other than the one time we were broken into within the first couple of months. An excellent customer that quickly became a friend pitched in with his technical skills to help us install security cameras throughout the shop. We were expanding our customer base, continuously updating inventory, and began to computerize the store to keep up with our expanding customer base and the constantly changing inventory. We did have a few growing pains because our customer base was growing much faster than we thought it would. However, we were able to navigate with the help of some fantastic people! As a bonus, Michael got out of the Marines, James moved down from Alaska, and they began to start their careers while at home with the family.

Then came the before-mentioned health problems with Carl that have caused a tremendous strain on our world. By this time, Hillary, Michael and James were working outside the shop and couldn’t fill in when needed. We tried to work through this by having Bradley and some friends cover when Carl could not make it into the shop, and they all did a remarkable job. However, after several months the health issues became so debilitating that Carl couldn’t continue, and Michael had to quit his job to take over the shop.

It is incredibly challenging to ask for help outside of our family, but we have reached a point where we need it. To have Carl and his health issues, god willing, resolved and hopefully keep the store going is our hope. We have been blessed with a tight family (including our extended ones and close friends). Everyone is pitching in to ensure the shop survives and is set back up to thrive. We truly would appreciate any assistance that you can give to our family and could not say thank you enough for doing so,