Operation: Help T Barry Williams Recover!
Donation protected
Thomas Barry Williams (Barry) is an old friend from high school. And Barry really, really needs some help.
Once upon a time...
Let's just say I met Barry a long time ago. We were on the same crappy middle school baseball team and then spent 4 years together in high school band. And of course, after high school, we lost touch until about 2009 when I got that 'Add a friend' notification from Facebook and it was Barry. We bonded over a mutual love of boxers (dogs, not the people who punch each other repeatedly in the face) and have kept in touch on and off ever since.
...and we lived happily ever after. Or not...
One day in October 2020, Barry reached out after a long quiet period and he began asking me questions about a condition I have called ulcerative colitis, which is a really super-fun (#notfun) digestive disease that causes your immune system to attack your healthy tissue on your large intestine. You may have heard of Crohn's, which is the same thing except it affects your small intestine and is worse to deal with. After some back and forth, it sounded like Barry was having some of the same issues I have. And after a visit to the gastroenterologist, it turned out he has Crohn's.
So Barry started in on trying to get that under control, which - if you have this disease - is not exactly a walk in the park. We'd been going back and forth over a span of a couple of months, and then one night I got a note from him that was as heartbreaking as it was shocking. He'd gone to the doctor for some pain in his arm and neck and ended up having a massive cardiac event. He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a disease that causes thickening of the heart, especially the ventricles, or lower heart chambers. And while a lot of folks end up living a normal life, there's also the associated stress of having to live with potential sudden cardiac arrest hanging over your head.
Also, it turned out the pain in his arm and neck was actually due to a protruding disc in his neck, which was crushing a nerve. He has physical therapy and is on a lot of pain medication. This is on top of continuing to deal with worsening Crohn’s.
The Situation
Barry has 3 kids and a wife. They've worked incredibly hard to have the life they have, the house they own, and the few things they have. These are good, kind, hard-working individuals, with one kid in the Navy one on the way to college.
And these are the kinds of catastrophic events that have the potential to take a lifetime of work away in an instant.
So here we are. The sad fact is about 90-92% of these GoFundMe campaigns fail to meet their goals, so I guess we can consider this a little bit of a Hail Mary. But...I have a plan.
Please tell me more about this plan
Glad you asked. I've been very fortunate over my life and have made some pretty great connections. And those connections contributed a number of very cool, one-of-a-kind items to be given away.
Items? What are these... 'items'?
Again, glad you asked. But that's a secret. I'll only tell you that I have 9 total items, and they are all unique and valuable.
Some of these items are very serious collector items - as in, 'Holy wow,' collector's items. One, in particular, is huge - legendary even.
Hint: It's an instrument signed by a music legend. Not exaggerating. This is something you'll probably want to hide and pass down to important people in your life.
That's how important this is to me to be successful.
But you have to contribute!
How does this work?
For every $5.00 contribution, you'll receive one entry towards a pool of 9 high-value items, 8 of which you can pick from. At the end of the campaign, I'll hold a drawing and then notify you if you were picked. I'm going to release one of those items every 3 days or so just to build some anticipation. You can contribute as much as you want and get as many entries as you want. You'll get one item (ie. your name will be removed from the drawing after you win something)...but there's an exception to this rule. And that is everyone will be eligible to win the big legendary signed instrument. While you won't get to pick it right away, everyone will have an equal chance of winning it.
So...you can win one of the other items plus the big legendary signed instrument!
BONUS
Right now - for a limited time - $5.00 contributions will get you double entries. That'll happen until I release the first update with the first item to give away. But there's no time frame on that first update! It might happen tomorrow. It might happen in two days. So contribute now!
Oh, also - no matter how much you contribute, I'll be giving away 5 of my own downloadable tracks of music. I'm a nobody, but at least everyone gets something.
The countdown starts now. Good luck!
Once upon a time...
Let's just say I met Barry a long time ago. We were on the same crappy middle school baseball team and then spent 4 years together in high school band. And of course, after high school, we lost touch until about 2009 when I got that 'Add a friend' notification from Facebook and it was Barry. We bonded over a mutual love of boxers (dogs, not the people who punch each other repeatedly in the face) and have kept in touch on and off ever since.
...and we lived happily ever after. Or not...
One day in October 2020, Barry reached out after a long quiet period and he began asking me questions about a condition I have called ulcerative colitis, which is a really super-fun (#notfun) digestive disease that causes your immune system to attack your healthy tissue on your large intestine. You may have heard of Crohn's, which is the same thing except it affects your small intestine and is worse to deal with. After some back and forth, it sounded like Barry was having some of the same issues I have. And after a visit to the gastroenterologist, it turned out he has Crohn's.
So Barry started in on trying to get that under control, which - if you have this disease - is not exactly a walk in the park. We'd been going back and forth over a span of a couple of months, and then one night I got a note from him that was as heartbreaking as it was shocking. He'd gone to the doctor for some pain in his arm and neck and ended up having a massive cardiac event. He was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which is a disease that causes thickening of the heart, especially the ventricles, or lower heart chambers. And while a lot of folks end up living a normal life, there's also the associated stress of having to live with potential sudden cardiac arrest hanging over your head.
Also, it turned out the pain in his arm and neck was actually due to a protruding disc in his neck, which was crushing a nerve. He has physical therapy and is on a lot of pain medication. This is on top of continuing to deal with worsening Crohn’s.
The Situation
Barry has 3 kids and a wife. They've worked incredibly hard to have the life they have, the house they own, and the few things they have. These are good, kind, hard-working individuals, with one kid in the Navy one on the way to college.
And these are the kinds of catastrophic events that have the potential to take a lifetime of work away in an instant.
So here we are. The sad fact is about 90-92% of these GoFundMe campaigns fail to meet their goals, so I guess we can consider this a little bit of a Hail Mary. But...I have a plan.
Please tell me more about this plan
Glad you asked. I've been very fortunate over my life and have made some pretty great connections. And those connections contributed a number of very cool, one-of-a-kind items to be given away.
Items? What are these... 'items'?
Again, glad you asked. But that's a secret. I'll only tell you that I have 9 total items, and they are all unique and valuable.
Some of these items are very serious collector items - as in, 'Holy wow,' collector's items. One, in particular, is huge - legendary even.
Hint: It's an instrument signed by a music legend. Not exaggerating. This is something you'll probably want to hide and pass down to important people in your life.
That's how important this is to me to be successful.
But you have to contribute!
How does this work?
For every $5.00 contribution, you'll receive one entry towards a pool of 9 high-value items, 8 of which you can pick from. At the end of the campaign, I'll hold a drawing and then notify you if you were picked. I'm going to release one of those items every 3 days or so just to build some anticipation. You can contribute as much as you want and get as many entries as you want. You'll get one item (ie. your name will be removed from the drawing after you win something)...but there's an exception to this rule. And that is everyone will be eligible to win the big legendary signed instrument. While you won't get to pick it right away, everyone will have an equal chance of winning it.
So...you can win one of the other items plus the big legendary signed instrument!
BONUS
Right now - for a limited time - $5.00 contributions will get you double entries. That'll happen until I release the first update with the first item to give away. But there's no time frame on that first update! It might happen tomorrow. It might happen in two days. So contribute now!
Oh, also - no matter how much you contribute, I'll be giving away 5 of my own downloadable tracks of music. I'm a nobody, but at least everyone gets something.
The countdown starts now. Good luck!
Organizer and beneficiary
Andrew Geonetta
Organizer
Austin, TX
T Barry Williams
Beneficiary