Greetings everyone,

I hope that you all have managed to navigate this pandemic and its accompanying woes. During its now cumbersome third wave, I come to you asking humbly for a few moments of your time. You may remember around June of 2020 last year I did my first ever GoFundMe for my kitten named Mittens to afford her life-saving medical operations. I was astounded at all of the financial and emotional support that was given in such a short time! Meager was an understatement of how I thought my crowdfunding efforts would go. One would assume after that it would be my only time to utilize this platform; but alas, life is something that goes how it goes.

My 16-year-old cousin, Derek Duncan, star athlete for East Islip's baseball team, an honor student & the doted son of Jonathan and Theresa is about to enter his final year of high school but has been diagnosed with Stage 2 Hodgkin's Lymphoma. From my own eyes, I have seen so many recruitment scouts from so many great colleges and universities want him for his diverse accomplishments, tenacity to run an intense series of WINNING games every season & always having a respectful demeanor does not hurt either.

However, what is painful are the increasing medical bills that pile up. As you have seen discussed throughout my years of advocating for single-payer healthcare across this country, we are in a system that in essence penalizes individuals already in a vulnerable state for having something that should be a right in this great nation - but I digress. My Aunt Theresa and Uncle Jonathan have spent their whole lives raising these wonderful children and in my eyes deserve a medal for it. When my father was incarcerated for 16 years and later on my mother was in a deep battle with substance abuse, they were a safe haven. These are your bread-and-butter Americans that would love to have your assistance in this precious hour. If you could match my $500 donation or even #16dollars for every great year that my talented cousin has lived on this earth, it would mean a lot.

From those in the Baha'i community, my fellow NYC thespians (actors), former co-workers from all over NYS, former high school and university grads, and whomever else - thank you for your time and effort in reading this far.

Best,

Shannon Swift