Hello, my name is Sheri Hanson,

I admit it. I need help.

I really don't know how to do this. I'm always ready to help others, but it's so hard to admit that I need help.

Five years ago, my beloved 40-year partner became deathly ill and because we have such an illustrious medical system, he coded and spent five years fighting against one system failure after another. During this time, I spent every minute of every day with him in the hospital and rehab to save his life. I'm so grateful to say that he is soooo much better. It has been one full year without ambulances, ER visits, hospital stays, or rehab. All his doctors (9 of them) are amazed that he is both alive and beginning to thrive. But to get here, it has taken almost everything; savings, credit cards, and now debt. As someone famous said, "I've spent the last pi aster I can borrow."

We have a chance to re-right our lives, but being what seems to be our lives of being terminally broke, we are just steps away from being able to get there. Once there was a time when there was money in our lives and he bought art, specifically Asian Buddhist art, statues of stone, porcelain, and wood; paintings made of gold foil of Buddhas, Guan Yins, and angels. His dream was to open a meditation center and have the art support the endeavor. However, life intervened and that didn't ever materialize; and today, we have a basement full.

There is an art auction in St. Louis next month, and if we could get the art there, we could sell it for whatever the market will bear. We have to get it to the auctioneers very soon so they have time to photograph and catalog the pieces. The problem is getting it there. To clean, load, and transport it is about $2000. The people who will load into the truck will do it on an invoice, so there is $1200 of it taken care of for the moment. We have $300 to pay for the truck, but the truck, with gas, costs $750 - $800. We would drive the rental truck with a car trailer so we can drop the truck and drive home. I'm short and that's where we need help. We need $450 more to be able to do this.

Will you please help me?

Humbly, Sheri Hanson