Nancy’s emergency medical fund

On Saturday, June 20, 2018, while working in my bookstore, Star Cat Books of
Bradford, VT, I had a TIA: a transient ischemic attack.

I was hauled out of my store on a stretcher and taken as a FAST service to Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, where they checked me for a stroke.

Luckily, it wasn’t a full stroke. But what I had is a mini-stoke, a TIA—a transient
ischemic attack. My right leg doesn’t work. I can talk, but my handwriting still doesn’t look like my usual. I was one of the lucky ones.

I stayed in Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center for over four days, had an EEG
(showing that I had seizure-like activity, too), several MRIs, and the original CAT scan. The MRI of my brain showed significant plaque in the small arteries of my brain;
plaque which narrows the arteries and caused the TIA.

Recovery is going to take time: months. I can’t walk. I can’t drive. Right now, I can’t
even go downstairs.

Where I’m not lucky is this: I own a small business. Star Cat Books, in Bradford, VT.
It’s always on the edge, financially, because: small business, small town. It’s my life.
This is also my only livelihood.

Summer is our busiest time: July-August we make more money than during the
holidays. If we can’t be open, that money has to come from somewhere or we will
close our doors forever.

I have no disability. I am a sole-owner corp LLC, which means no disability: my income is reported on my personal income. Even if I *was* a full corp LLC, with a board of directors and everything, I *still* wouldn’t be able to collect disability because I’m the
owner.

Without disability, we will lose Star Cat Books. We specialize in children’s, YA, and
science fiction—both new and used. We’ve been around for five years now, and I love my store. I love this community. I love my customers. Losing Star Cat Books would not only break me financially, but break my heart.

Because this is my only income, it also supports my ability to pay my property taxes, which are due at the end of July.

This gofundme is my disability for the store, for me. We are raising funds to keep the
store running until I can walk again, until I can drive again.

Please help us keep Star Cat Books alive.