Keep Thai's lights and electricity on!

+++ EMERGENCY: AID NEEDED FOR A TIRELESS AND WONDERFUL FRIEND, ADVOCATE and ORGANIZER +++

Hello! Please help us keep our loved one safe and their house heated and lit!

Our dear friend Thai is bed bound and unable to work due to their multiple disabilities, and as a result they have an incredibly high energy bill which they have no way of paying off. Thai currently owes $4080.37 (approx) in overdue energy bills that cannot be adjusted.

Thai urgently needs your help raising money to pay their overdue utilities bill. The energy company (LADWP) is refusing to accommodate or strike this bill, even knowing Thai’s current circumstances. This looming bill and the possibility of losing utilities access, is deeply affecting Thai’s mental health, safety, and ability to survive.

Thai also does not qualify for reduction schemes or payment plans because the amount they need to fundraise (thousands a month for bulk hydrocolloid dressings due to topical steroid withdrawal) puts them over the earnings threshold, despite the fact that that money only goes to a basic survival function for them.

Thai has changed so many lives. They are a prolific organizer and an amazing friend.

Meeting this bill is a matter of survival. Maintaining secure housing and utilities access is crucial for high risk immunocompromised disabled people during multiple global pandemics and active climate crises when there’s nowhere else to safely go. Without this, Thai’s life is in even more imminent danger.

If even half of Thai’s online community threw in a dollar, we could wipe out this outstanding balance in a DAY. Thai is valuable and we have the power to act against the immiseration perpetrated against our disabled comrade by the city. Even if you can only give a dollar, or five, or twenty, PLEASE do so. Do not let our friend suffer needlessly.

HELP THAI KEEP THE LIGHTS ON!

PLEASE READ DETAILED INFORMATION ON THAI’S SITUATION BELOW:

Thai is currently battling full-body infections as a result of topical steroid withdrawal, while attempting to fundraise for their existence. On top of that, they regularly receive unexpected medical bills in the hundreds and thousands, for care that is not optional. Thai’s utility bills and living costs have also been exceptionally high - they are bedbound and deserve safe housing and financial stability, as we all do.

Thai is enduring agony from an extended profoundly painful reaction to overprescribed topical steroids that has stretched over most of their life. In order to treat their largest organ themselves at home, they have to use expensive hydrocolloid medical coverings every day in an effort to keep the infections from spreading even further than they already are. These dressings are the only bandages that provide them any relief from their skin infections, and are incredibly costly and can’t be found at local pharmacies.

In a given day, Thai uses close to 10 boxes of these dressing to cover and relieve the pain of full-body/facial skin wounds; this means up to 70 boxes—or $1400 per week. The price of these dressings went up 1 year into the pandemic as a result of the inflation of medical supply costs under the medical industrial complex. The larger dressings they have been using cover more surface area, but are even more costly.

Thai is a cancer survivor with multiple chronic and autoimmune conditions. They are severely immunocompromised and—due to the Covid-19 and Mpx crises that they cannot safely receive vaccinations for—cannot risk seeing in-person doctors, therapists, or specialists, and so has not been able to receive any regular treatment for years. They have been advised that the flu alone could kill them, since 5 years ago. They are also unable to get vaccinated at this time due to lethally high risk of reactions and systemic organ failure.

Thai does not qualify for state or federal financial aid and is therefore forced to sacrifice any sense of privacy in an effort to raise funds for their survival, a constant performance against social media algorithms. In an era where GoFundMe stands as health insurance, this is unsustainable without consistency in community mutual aid. They are being censored across social media, their only window to the world and their sole channel for accessing their community.

Thai is a first generation Vietnamese American from a family of refugees, an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and community organizer centering their practice on chronic illness's social, cultural, and physical effects. They are also a disability justice advocate and a founding member of Sick In Quarters (SiQ), a disabled-artist-led mutual aid project supporting patient advocacy and care work in and for communities in en/forced marginalization…

Thai is important. Thai deserves a life that isn’t just battling against the state, city, and medical-industrial complex. You have the power to help!