Michael Friedman Medical Debt & End of Life Costs

Hi Folks,

 

Michael Friedman's wife, Karen Krulevitch, here. Our beloved Michael passed away this week after a very sudden and traumatic stay at Cottage Hospital, and then a few difficult days at Serenity House. His death was from complications from an undiagnosed kidney infection, but as many of you know he has been progressively ill with Parkinson's Disease for nearly ten years now. For the last few years he had mainly been bed-ridden at home.

 

We have gone into large debt because of needing to pay for daily caregiving help. Recently I got Michael on

Medi-Cal and In Home Health Services. That was a bit cheaper than private pay nursing, but the cumulative amount of debt is over $40,000, forty-thousand dollars. I need help getting this down to a manageable amount. Also, we had made no provisions for Michael's death arrangements, so I have been needing to ask for help from friends and family with cremation and related costs.

 

 

Thank you all for the outpouring of love and support. Any small amount of financial assistance you can offer would be so appreciated.

 

I will be having a Celebration of Life for Michael on his seventy-seventh birthday on January 27, 2022, so please keep in touch for details.

 

All love,

 

Karen K

805-967-7419

 

P.S. As many of you might know Michael was an amazing writer. He completed a two -volume erotic fantasy novel entitled The Upstairs Girls, which you might enjoy reading. It is available for purchase at Amazon. I will get his small royalties. It made him so delighted when he ever heard that someone had bought or read his book. kk

Update....dear friends and contributors. You have all been so exceedingly kind. Please note...I found more credit card debt related to paying Michael’s caregivers so have raised my goal. 

Also, i wanted to let you know that i postponed his big memorial till probably the summer, partly because of Covid and partly because i have been experiencing intense, rather debilitating anxiety since my husband passed and couldn’t face throwing a big party for Michael right now. But a few wonderful friends and i scattered his ashes out of the Santa Barbara harbor on his birthday at the end of January...that was a lovely afternoon. Perfect weather, with lovely ceremony and song. He would have loved the gathering for sure. Maybe he got to enjoy it anyway. ...i like to think he was there too. We love you, Michael. 

UPDATE

I have taken a break from the fundraiser to work on clearing out Michael's bedroom so I could rent it out. Took me a while to find a housemate to live here in such an intimate space...we share a bathroom... to help me pay the bills. Meanwhile, i am still trying to pay down the caregiver debt so i want to resume networking this campaign.

thank you all again for all the love and support. Excited to eventually reach my goal and find a little financial freedom, which i know our Michael would have wanted.