<div>We all know deep in our hearts that tomorrow is never promised. But until we are faced with utter tragedy, we don't really KNOW just how quickly those whispers of promises can be taken away from us. On January 17th, 2024, the recklessness of one man altered the life of our family, possibly forever. 
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>On January 17th, 2024, my husband Michael walked out the door to his office and prepared to go to his regular bus stop. It was a Wednesday, and he was heading home, not only to me, but to teach a class of writers at my studio, AllWriters’ Workplace &amp; Workshop. Wednesday night is his favorite night of the week. He enjoys this class, filled with writers of all sorts.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>When Michael got to the intersection that he had to cross to get to the bus stop, he stopped, looked left, then right, then left again. He waited for the light and he stepped carefully into the crosswalk. Michael is probably the world’s best pedestrian. He was always terribly afraid of being hit by a car; he often had nightmares about it when he slept, for the whole almost 25 years that we’ve been married.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>And that’s exactly what happened.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>A minivan made a left turn, going around 30 miles per hour, and it didn’t hesitate or stop. The minivan plowed right into Michael. Michael fell up onto the hood, slammed against the windshield, and then dropped to the pavement. The minivan then ran him over.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>To this day, now just over a month later, I don’t know how Michael survived. He was transported by ambulance to the closest hospital.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Michael has multiple skull fractures, a fracture of the T-10 vertebrae in his back, and a traumatic brain injury. Amazingly, he had no other broken bones or injured organs, although his body was covered with deep bruises, cuts, and scrapes. The skin on one knee was so shredded that it took a month before the scab, the size of a jar lid, fell off. He will always have scars.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>In the month since the “accident”, Michael has been in the ICU twice. He had to wear a cervical collar to protect his neck and head. He had an NG tube running from his nose to his stomach to feed him. When he sits up at a greater than 30-degree angle, he has to wear a back brace to protect the healing vertebrae. Michael will walk again, but for now, he hasn’t set foot on the ground since right before he was hit by the minivan.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>With the brain injury, Michael is in and out. It took over a week for him to keep his eyes open enough to indicate that he recognized me. It took almost two weeks for him to say my name, and to call our daughter by her nickname, Booger. Today when I visited him in the hospital, he knew it was me. But by the time I left, he thought I was his sister. He hallucinates about invisible people, some living, some dead. And yet other times, he zeroes in on us and asks about the accident, wonders how work is going, how the dog is, and the location of his wallet and phone.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The prognosis at this time is not set. He could have a full recovery. He might not. We just don’t know.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>The driver of the vehicle is 76 years old. He was driving a sixteen-year-old minivan. His insurance company has declared him 100% responsible for this “accident”. And he had only minimal insurance – he’s covered for $50,000. Because he doesn’t own much, there is every possibility that he’s going to walk away from this “accident” without having to pay a single bill.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I always thought that when a person was fully responsible for a horrific accident he then became also fully responsible for the medical bills. This isn’t true. If there’s nothing to sue him for, the bills come right back to me and Michael. We will have to pay for something that isn’t even remotely Michael’s fault, and that has caused devastating damage to Michael. It has also caused devastating damage to me, to our daughter, and to Michael’s stepkids, as well as our granddaughter.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>I keep putting quotes around “accident”. While this man didn’t intentionally hit Michael and run him over, the term “accident” just doesn’t seem big enough. This is a disaster.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Michael is 59 years old. He is a loving and giving husband, a loving and supportive father and stepfather. We will have been married for 25 years in October. He is an accountant by career and a writer by passion. His first love was old time radio, and I met him when he asked me to help him learn how to go from radio scripts to short stories. Michael’s radio plays have been produced internationally, he’s had many short stories published, and three novels. He loves the mystery and horror genres.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Seeing him now, not knowing what’s going to happen, is the hardest thing I’ve ever been through.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Michael and I met online, when we each signed on to the internet for the first time within 24 hours of each other. We both immediately searched for a writers’ chatroom, went there, and talked to each other on that first night. We both felt something, but didn’t know it would lead to a 25-year marriage and the birth of our daughter. We’ve both watched in awe as my two sons and a daughter from my first marriage, and then our own daughter, grew up under our care. Now, I dream of being by his side as we watch our granddaughter grow.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>Tonight, Michael told me over and over again how scared he is.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>So am I. He’s already been in the hospital for a month, and the next step is rehab. I have no idea how long his recovery is going to take. I can’t sleep at night for worrying about the cost.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>It is very hard for me to ask for help. But I know I need to. I feel like an angsty fifteen-year-old when I shout and cry, “But this just isn’t fair!”
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>It’s not.
</div>
<div><br />
</div>
<div>And so I have to do something about it. Asking for help is the first thing.
</div>

Jaden Liermann

Anonymous

Jennifer Valek

Darryll Fortune

Kathleen A Dale

Christine Kunert

Roland Hoffman

Bill Belingloph

Brian Due

Cristina Norcross

Ronald Gould

Eileen and Joe Warren

Darryl Gumm

Jacqueline Mellem

Clarinda Arsenault

Helping the Giorgio Family

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

locale

fund country is US and user language is English

personId

comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

Suggested Goal Experience Users

user language is English and fund country: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

paymentProcessor

3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

paymentProcessorAccountId

fallback mode accounts

proCampaignId

p2p legacy startfundraising page

be_supporter_comments_enabled_supported_funds

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

countryCode

charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

currencyCode

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

writePath

Stream Notification

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

Native 11.3.0 and above

Influencer - Prod

US fundraisers and US users

userEmail

template_id

userId

fundUrl

isCharityCo

email

appVersion

shouldBucketIntoExperiment

partnerId

donationCadence

isActiveFundraiser

isPartner

isMobile

npoProfileOptIn

fundIsLinkedWithMeta

hasSessionDonation

isCampaignOwner

fundHasInstagramDeepLink

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Helping the Giorgio Family

Still $81,745 to go. Help us build momentum.