Hello, friends!

This is Spider, writing on behalf of Celly & our daughter, Cat. You may have known me by another name.

The last couple of years have been like a 90s Chumbawumba tune for Celly: he gets knocked down, and he gets up again. He's damn lucky that Cat was visiting him in 2024 when he started feeling poorly and she insisted that he go to the hospital instead of just taking a nap, because he survived the stroke he was having, and the second one that followed. Emergency brain surgery and recovery time in the hospital isn't cheap, but it means he gets to hang around this mortal coil a little longer.

He has had to make some changes to his work situation as a result, which meant that getting things back to a steady place after his strokes and rehab wasn't easy. Recently, Matt found out that he needs cataract surgery in order to preserve his vision. Cat moved out to live with him in 2025, and the current job market meant she did a little temping for a while, and while she starts her fantastic new job as a teacher's assistant in August, they were still struggling to keep their feet under them... and then the storm hit on July 5th.

Their basement flooded, destroying their lawn mower and a few other possessions, but it's the water damage to the house, and the potential for toxic mold, that turns this into an emergency. Cat has been doing the immediate removal schlepping of wet wood and destroyed possessions — with gloves, goggles, and respirator, don't worry — but the quotes Matt has received range from $10k for very basic, bare-minimum rehabilitation to $35k for actually fixing the issues and doing future-proofing so this problem doesn't just recur. I've set the goal to bare minimum and if (when?) we reach it, we'll raise that goal and keep addressing issues.

Unfortunately, while they do have insurance, it will not cover this damage because it was caused by exterior flooding. They're on their own on this one, and without help, this means that, at minimum, Matt will have to delay his cataract surgery, which is not ideal for the only driver in the house.

Speaking of which: Cat needs to learn how to drive, because it's not great to have only one adult in a house who can drive, needs eye surgery, & has a history of strokes. She had lived places with good mass transit until she moved to Central PA & just never learned. This is something that might not require money - if you already know Celly & Cat personally, are located near Harrisburg, and are willing to teach Cat to drive, please reach out to Matt! Otherwise, some of this will have to go to driving lessons.

Matt made the very smart decision a few years ago when his dad passed away to invest his inheritance in a house in central PA, close to the Faire community that has been his home for decades, and in an affordable part of the state, too. In addition, he plans for this house to be Cat's inheritance from him, a way to provide for her when he's gone. That, of course, requires maintaining this house, which is both his dad's gift to him and the gift he wants to leave to our kid.

Plus, you know. They live there, and mold is bad for everybody, but especially not great if you've already got health stuff going on. There's that, too.

If you've enjoyed Celly's presence in your life, benefitted from his generosity and friendship, or just had fun watching him fling himself off of things and then onto other things, swing a melee weapon, or quip and improvise his way around a Faireground, please consider tossing a couple of bucks into this virtual hat pass. It really does add up.

Thank you so much for reading all of this! If you can donate, we really appreciate it, and even if you can't, we ask that you share this campaign on your social media. Every share, post, etc. really, really helps.

(Housekeeping note: I volunteered taking on running this GoFundMe for the two of them, in part because I have experience with running them & in part because this is something that I can take off of their shoulders so they can focus on repairing the house. Matt is set up as beneficiary already & the funds will go directly to his account. You may get updates from me or from Celly as we are both on this campaign. :)