Help Jeff and Save the Frog Bog
Donation protected
Jeff Pinard makes an immediate impression because he’s just such a positive and enthusiastic person. Which is amazing given the challenges he’s faced throughout most of his life, dealing with Cystic Fibrosis, a disease that’s presented him with the scary experience of a projected life expectancy that’s grown longer but has always remained very close to his actual age, as well as chronic pancreatitis. If you know Jeff from online forums, you know that this hasn’t gotten him down, and he remains enthusiastic and excited despite being thrown challenges most of us would find crushing.
If you don’t know Jeff, I can’t think of a better introduction to him than this wonderful article written by Tom Chick about Jeff and his “frop bog” (frog bog,):
https://folks.pillpack.com/the-frog-whisperer/
After careers working in cystic fibrosis research and computer science, Jeff was forced into a disability situation after a scary near-death experience that left him in a coma for three weeks as his body fought pneumonia and pancreatitis.
His health has continued to provide regular severe challenges—he’s currently in the close assessment stage for a lung transplant--but he’s fought through in it in part through his enthusiasm for maintaining and building his frog bog as an educational and fun place for kids, and a therapeutic escape for the chronically and terminally ill.
Now an unexpected change in his domestic situation is threatening Jeff’s ability to maintain his home, the bog, and his health. This has severely impacted his savings, he has lost the shared family vehicle, he no longer has spousal income to help get by, and his insurance situation is still in process of being resolved.
This is obviously a huge stressor, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, as his dad is currently very ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and light chain amyloidosis, and Jeff has been doing everything within his power to help his dad and mom as they deal with this.
And that’s why we convinced Jeff to let us start this GoFundMe for him. Jeff didn’t ask for help, but a group of his friends have volunteered it, because with his own health issues and his desire to help his dad and mom, we don’t want him to face losing his home, the frog bog that’s literally helped keep him alive, and face so many other repercussions of suddenly finding himself in a very challenging financial situation through no action of his own.
The amount of this GoFundMe is just to cover debts, to get him a position where he can hopefully maintain his home on disability. He’s still facing other challenges, such as not having a vehicle, but we’re trying to get his immediate needs covered. Any donation will be a big help for him, as his income is fixed and his health challenges are so severe that returning to the regular workforce isn’t an option.
To close this out, and to give an idea of why a group of online friends are so focused on helping Jeff out, I’ll close this with the description Jeff sent me of the frog and yard project:
"I have a Butterfly Koi Pond which feeds a water feature we call the Frog Bog Canal. It’s a horseshoe-shaped water path that has lilies and lotuses. They take in excess nutrients from the fish, clean the water, then the water cascades back into the pond over a small waterfall. We also have a second Bog called the Winter Bog. That’s so the frogs have an extra body of water to hibernate in, and to help satiate their wanderlust instincts.
Part of the idea for this came from my love for the classic book, The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett (we have lots of flowers and stuff too). A sick child finds a secret garden which helps her heal both her body and her spirit. I can say unequivocally the pond and frog bogs have kept me alive. I’ve been working on them for 20 years now, and though not finished, I am close. Taking care of fish, frogs, and trying to mold my small backyard to be a suitable habitat has been a labor of love which has given me more physical strength and lung capacity than I would have had otherwise.
My ultimate goal is to make this safe and welcoming for both kids and other very sick patients. For kids as an opportunity to teach them about ecology, the environment, and give them the opportunity to see emergent behavior in both the frogs and fish. While they’re still wild animals, they adapt and learn to do things one would not expect, such as eating out of your hand. Educationally, examining pond water under a microscope is an enlightening experience for kids who never knew there’s an entire world in a drop of water.
For other terminal patients, it’s a retreat. A place to come a chill for an afternoon. To try and forget for a short time what is coming and to have someone who understands the challenges they face. Taking a hike into the forest to experience nature isn’t usually an option. But a drive to my house, and short walk to my backyard could be."
If you don’t know Jeff, I can’t think of a better introduction to him than this wonderful article written by Tom Chick about Jeff and his “frop bog” (frog bog,):
https://folks.pillpack.com/the-frog-whisperer/
After careers working in cystic fibrosis research and computer science, Jeff was forced into a disability situation after a scary near-death experience that left him in a coma for three weeks as his body fought pneumonia and pancreatitis.
His health has continued to provide regular severe challenges—he’s currently in the close assessment stage for a lung transplant--but he’s fought through in it in part through his enthusiasm for maintaining and building his frog bog as an educational and fun place for kids, and a therapeutic escape for the chronically and terminally ill.
Now an unexpected change in his domestic situation is threatening Jeff’s ability to maintain his home, the bog, and his health. This has severely impacted his savings, he has lost the shared family vehicle, he no longer has spousal income to help get by, and his insurance situation is still in process of being resolved.
This is obviously a huge stressor, and it couldn’t have come at a worse time, as his dad is currently very ill with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and light chain amyloidosis, and Jeff has been doing everything within his power to help his dad and mom as they deal with this.
And that’s why we convinced Jeff to let us start this GoFundMe for him. Jeff didn’t ask for help, but a group of his friends have volunteered it, because with his own health issues and his desire to help his dad and mom, we don’t want him to face losing his home, the frog bog that’s literally helped keep him alive, and face so many other repercussions of suddenly finding himself in a very challenging financial situation through no action of his own.
The amount of this GoFundMe is just to cover debts, to get him a position where he can hopefully maintain his home on disability. He’s still facing other challenges, such as not having a vehicle, but we’re trying to get his immediate needs covered. Any donation will be a big help for him, as his income is fixed and his health challenges are so severe that returning to the regular workforce isn’t an option.
To close this out, and to give an idea of why a group of online friends are so focused on helping Jeff out, I’ll close this with the description Jeff sent me of the frog and yard project:
"I have a Butterfly Koi Pond which feeds a water feature we call the Frog Bog Canal. It’s a horseshoe-shaped water path that has lilies and lotuses. They take in excess nutrients from the fish, clean the water, then the water cascades back into the pond over a small waterfall. We also have a second Bog called the Winter Bog. That’s so the frogs have an extra body of water to hibernate in, and to help satiate their wanderlust instincts.
Part of the idea for this came from my love for the classic book, The Secret Garden by Frances Burnett (we have lots of flowers and stuff too). A sick child finds a secret garden which helps her heal both her body and her spirit. I can say unequivocally the pond and frog bogs have kept me alive. I’ve been working on them for 20 years now, and though not finished, I am close. Taking care of fish, frogs, and trying to mold my small backyard to be a suitable habitat has been a labor of love which has given me more physical strength and lung capacity than I would have had otherwise.
My ultimate goal is to make this safe and welcoming for both kids and other very sick patients. For kids as an opportunity to teach them about ecology, the environment, and give them the opportunity to see emergent behavior in both the frogs and fish. While they’re still wild animals, they adapt and learn to do things one would not expect, such as eating out of your hand. Educationally, examining pond water under a microscope is an enlightening experience for kids who never knew there’s an entire world in a drop of water.
For other terminal patients, it’s a retreat. A place to come a chill for an afternoon. To try and forget for a short time what is coming and to have someone who understands the challenges they face. Taking a hike into the forest to experience nature isn’t usually an option. But a drive to my house, and short walk to my backyard could be."
Organizer and beneficiary
Denny Atkin
Organizer
Duvall, WA
Jeff Pinard
Beneficiary
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